The Hunter Gene
by Meme-tan
Summary: The Gamemakers are working on something new. Something to send to the most desperate tributes, a new shot called The Hunter Gene. It changes your DNA making you sharper, faster, smarter and blood thirsty. This is a story of how the Gene was made. Follow our characters as they attempt to stop the only living tribute that still has. ON HIATUS. OC STORY.
1. Chapter 1

**(A/n: I OWN NOTHING! It all belongs to Suzanne Collins. Although I do wish I owned Finnick :( ON WITH THE STORY :D)**

**Chapter 1**

"Mommy! Wait for me!" It was a normal day in the Capitol for the tiny Trinnie Wynter, having experienced no kind of evil. Living in her 3 year old bubble of pleasantries, life was easy and with her limited speech people had to know what she wanted. Her blonde hair always tied up into two adorable pigtails and her blue eyes were abnormally wide.

"Hurry up dear," Linnie Wynter was an average woman who lived her life from day to day. Trinnie was the only child her and her husband had conceived so she was born wrapped in an ivory quilt with a silver spoon placed in her mouth. Nothing less than perfect was given to her, her toys, food even friends were handpicked by her mother. Being born at such a huge advantage would make Trinnie virtually untouchable in the Capitol, her father was good friends with President Snow. Even stepping a centimetre out of line while with the Wynter's was risky, the socialite lifestyle was what her mother was used to living. Trinnie was bound to follow in her footsteps and become a stay at home mother who held parties once a week and was always seen with a cup of red wine in hand that she never actually sipped from, she claimed it was "Unladylike" to be seen tipsy.

As usual everyday after school Linnie would walk Trinnie home it was really the only amount of time Trinnie had to look at the outside world. Other than that she was left in her room to collect dust, like a boring book or an old toy.

"We really are in for it now Lin," Trinnie's father had just walked in, slammed the door and slouched into his giant arm chair. Linnie gave him that usual expectant look, they didn't have to speak for him to know what she meant. He sighed "I said no to the President." A confused look flashed across her face that was almost identical to Trinnie's. "Last week he gave me the most amazing business proposal, he would make me Vice-President if..." he took his sweet time before moving onto the next part of the sentence. "I gave him Trinnie. For some random project, he needs 12 Capitol kids and right now he's 10 short. I said no, I wasn't sure what he was going to do."

By this time Linnie was dazed, it couldn't be that bad. President Snow was a nice man, he probably just wanted to check their average health and use the percentages for whatever. "Where is Trinnie?" she lifted her head and blinked up at her husband.

"The nanny took her upstairs, she's probably just playing." As he made his way up the stairs Linnie started thinking. "How angry was Snow?" He turned and gave her a hard stare, she wasn't going to have one of their best friends being angry at their family. So she decided that the next day her and Trinnie would go and apologize.

The next morning when her husband left for work Trinnie went and got her daughter ready. Tying her hair into two adorable pigtails with the white ribbons her father had gotten her. They left for Presidents Snows house relatively early, she was planning ahead. The Start of Summer party that she was throwing was the next day, and a good hostess was always prepared. She did her usual dainty knock on the huge door on the front of the huge mansion with the gigantic white marble trees for pillars. An avox came to the door and smiled at the sight of Trinnie who gave a small wave, "I've told you a thousand times Trinnie! You're not allowed to talk to them, they're criminals who got what they deserved. Now let's go see Mr Snow." Trinnie didn't think that anyone could do something so bad their tongue would get cut out, but she was young, naive and still thought the best of the world. But then again, she still hadn't heard of the Hunger Games.

After walking down at least 10 different hallways they finally stopped at a giant mahogany door the Linnie daintily knocked on again. A loud grumble came from inside and Linnie took that as permission to enter.

"Hello there President Snow," she stepped in and gave him an excited smile. "I'm here to apologize on behalf of my husband, he was being irrational. We've decided to go along with your project, it should be a very interesting experience. Oh! And look I even brought Trinnie!" She was now seated in an overly comfortable looking cream arm chair with Trinnie in her lap like some sort of overly prized possession.

President Snow smiled, Trinnie didn't like his smile it made her feel uncomfortable. "Wonderful, I knew he would make the right decision. Now, Trinnie has to come along with me. We must start as soon as possible, I'll let you know when you can pick her up but she'll obviously be in good hands."

"Obviously, I don't doubt you at all." Then she hugged Trinnie, said her good byes and walked out of the room. Completely oblivious to the fact that it was probably the worst decision she had ever made.

He pressed the bright red button on his table and a very pale man in glasses and a lab coat walked in. His skin was tinged a slight grey, which was as dramatic as President Snow's completely puffy lips.

"You called, Sir?" He was staring and Trinnie hopefully. He had a raspy voice that sounded unused.

"The Wynters just gave me their child. Call up the other scientists, you have three days to fake her death and give her parents something to bury."

The tall man nodded and picked her up, something compelled her to start crying and cry she did. As the man carried her through a few more hallways and into an elevator she continued to cry. Till she felt a sharp pain hit her directly in the face.

"If you don't shut up you'll feel a real slap." He was still holding up is hand, her loud cries and reduced to just whimpers and sniffles before she finally calmed down. "See, isn't it so much better when we're both on the same page?" She nodded as he carried her out of the elevator and into a cold room with a metal table in the middle. He laid her down on it and she squealed, the table was absolutely freezing. "You better get used to that. This is the cleansing room. Since you're a new recruit we've got to get your stomach cleaned out before injecting you. You'll get one injection in the morning and at night. We're testing how high the concentration has to be for it to permanently work... I forget that your a three year old and probably understand nothing." He walked over to a fridge made of the same black metal and pulled out a single pill. "Take this, and throw up into this bucket. Remember to sit up, we don't need you choking on your vomit and dying on the first day."

She had a bad feeling about the pill but swallowed it nonetheless, she held the bucket and laid back down before feeling all the hot grain she had for breakfast fly up her throat. She couldn't get up in time and threw up in her own face before sitting up and pushing her face into the metal bucket he provided her with. "I told you to sit up! Ugh, now we have to clean that up." She really didn't care what he was saying, she was throwing her insides out into a bucket and it hurt. By the time she finally stopped all she was throwing up was bile, her stomach burnt and so did the back of her throat. Tears welled in her eyes and she cried for the one person she knew would always be there. Her father. She managed to get out half a shriek before being slapped in the face again, she learnt that crying wasn't a good idea the hard way.

"Let's get you to your cell. Tomorrow's a big day...its time for face alterations." She didn't know what that word meant, so she just kept quiet. Her face was sore and she was hurting everywhere. "Get in." He pushed her in a plain black room with a gigantic door made of the black metal. The room was empty except for the necessities, a bed was pushed up against the wall and there was a black metal desk pushed up against the opposite wall. He handed her some plain white clothes that she assumed was uniform.

"White?"

Everything else in the place was black the sudden change in colour confused her.

"It's so you stand out." She nodded in understanding then he led her to the bathroom down the hall. "Clean yourself up. Make it fast, it's almost time for bed." He left and she bathed herself. It was hard at first, the nannies had done it for her but she was going to have to fend for herself.

She put on the clothes and took the ribbons out of her hair, she tied them around her wrists instead. She stepped out of the bathroom, he walked her to her room and left without a word. As terrified as she was sleep still came easily, it had been a long day.

She woke with a start when she felt her back being laid on the familiar cold table, "We need you asleep for the procedure. So we're gonna pump you full of morphling and hope it doesn't hurt when you wake up."

_Hope what doesn't hurt! _She couldn't make the words with her mouth but her mind was shouting loud and clear. He stuck a needle connected to a drip into her wrist without a word, she bit the insides of her cheeks to hold back the tears till she felt blood. Then she felt woozy, her head felt heavy and she lay back down.

"Let's get to it then." He strapped her body to the table and secured her head in place with some sort of metal gear. She didn't care for specifics at that moment. She couldn't move. He picked up a scalpel from the laid out gear and approached her, and at that moment she fell asleep.

She woke up to a faint beeping coming from her left and mumbling from her right. She attempted to open her eyes but only got halfway, they were too swollen. "Oh, so you're awake... I guess that means we can add the first dose." She moved to open her mouth just to find it virtually clamped shut by the tight bandages all around her face.

The nameless doctor left and came back with a black metal container that looked like a coffee holder. He unscrewed the top and pulled out a tiny shot filled with a black liquid that had no particular substance. It moved by itself and seemed to defy gravity. He wordlessly stabbed it into her arm and pushed down on the lever. Then she panicked, she kicked and screamed through her bandages as she saw the liquid move through her veins. She could see it protruding through her skin, she could feel it moving on top of her blood. Like oil and water. Then she felt woozy again, "Since I'm not allowed to hit you I guess morphling will have to do the job."

She woke up again a few hours later to find the man sitting by her bed with a clip board in hand. "You're making no progress. The shot healed all the other patients a few hours later, you just took a two day nap."

_I slept for two days! Wait... mommy should be coming to pick me up by today. _She was drowned in her thoughts again before being hit with a suspicious wave of hunger.

"Your not ready for solid foods and your face has just started healing, so your being tube fed. Anyway its time for your dose, and we need to put something on your face it's obviously not gonna heal by itself." She was still yet to know what had happened to her face, it felt different. She managed to figure out that her hair was a different colour, instead of blonde it was red. It wasn't really a big change, she personally didn't care. She just wanted to go home.

The man left and came back with another coffee container and another smaller container he opened the smaller one and rubbed the contents on her face then he injected her and it didn't feel any better than the first time. It still hurt and made her skin crawl. "This stuff is pretty potent, your face should be good by tomorrow. Then we can get you involved with the other two children." He was making predictions for tomorrow that meant she was still going to be here tomorrow. The wooziness came crashing down on her again and she fell asleep.

"Wake up." She peeled her eyes open and they met with a pair of dark green ones. "You finally woke up. I'm Genive, I'm in the age division above so I'm 4!" She sound++ed pretty smart for a four year old.

Trinnie finally managed to peel herself off the bed and went to the bathroom. She went about her usual business, showering, brushing her teeth. Then the time came for her hair, she was greeted with a completely different face staring back at her through the mirror.

Instead of her usual bright blue eyes she now had hazel ones and her once silver white hair was the strangest shade of bright red. Her skin was a lot tanner and a beauty spot sat daintily on her now higher cheek bone. Her nose was smaller and her eyes were wider her lips were slightly fuller too. "The changes have been put into your genes. Your children will probably look like this too." She jumped at the sudden voice and turned to see Genive. She was definitely smart for a four year old. Trinnie stood and stared at herself for a few more minutes before Genive spoke again, "I forgot to tell you. They changed your name, now your Lina Blackwood. Pretty cool right? I picked it myself."

_Lina Blackwood..._ She was repeating the name over and over in her head, it was a lot better than Trinnie Wynter but why were they changing it? She decided to stay quiet, asking questions had only gotten her in trouble since she had arrived there.

"Come on, we have a lesson upstairs in the library. You get to met Lume." Genive grabbed her arm and led her to the elevator, then down some more hallways. Genive was relatively tall and had blonde hair that ended at her clavicles. Her eyes were dark green and she was very pale.

She was snapped out of her train of thought when she felt herself being pushed into President Snow's office and through another door. The pale man stood next to three mahogany seats pushed up against one long mahogany table. In the middle seat sat a black haired boy with blue eyes that she assumed was Lume. "You're late, I'll make an exception this time. Next time you shall face the consequences." It wasn't the pale man...well it was, but it wasn't. It was a really good imitation of him but he spoke way too politely.

She and Genive sat down on either sides of Lume and got to work with the maths exercises they had been given. Just simple addition and subtraction.

"Where is my daughter!" The voice was muffled and was coming from President Snow's office. It sounded distinctly like her mother.

"We want her back." It was her father speaking this time.

"Unfortunately Mrs and Mr Wynter, I invited you over to deliver some rather painful news."

"What do you mean by painful news? Trinnie is okay, right?" Her mother sounded genuinely worried, which was quite stupid considering she dropped her off.

"As soon as your husband was announced as Vice President... They kidnapped Trinnie. Some rebels on the run, it happened during the ceremony so security wasn't very tight at the house." Trinnie's mother let out a pained groan.

"Well why aren't we looking for her then? How long has she been missing?" Her father had always been the first to come to her rescue.

_I'm not missing, I'm right where you left me. I want to go home. Just open the door and come get me..._

"Mr Wynter, were not looking for her because we've found her." A sigh of relief came from both of her parents.

"Oh thank the lord! Where's my baby? We have major mother daughter activities to get to..." Her mother was being superficial as always.

There was a long silent pause before her mother spoke again. "...So, where is she?" she gave a tentative smile before President Snow spoke again. Trinnie was straining her ears just to hear what was going on. She didn't remember being kidnapped by rebels, or an award ceremony.

"... Trinnie wasn't found alive, she was found in a quite a mutilated state. We cleaned up the body for you as much as we could but she's virtually unrecognisable."

_What? I'm not dead though. I'm so confused!_

Both of Trinnie's parents sat in silence. "This is your fault...I told you not to bring her, what did you go and do now Lin! She was our only child, I said no for a reason! ... This is your entire fault!" Trinnie's fathers' voice went from quiet to frantic to completely insane, she had never heard him sound that angry. Even during her mothers most stupid endeavours and most expensive parties. She accepted him as a workaholic and he accepted her as a socialite. But sending their daughter to her death when he said no was the straw that broke his back.

"Mr and Mrs Wynter, perhaps you should go discuss this at home."

Linnie finally broke her silence and looked up, "Yes. We should." Then got up and walked out with out a word. Her husband followed soon after.

_Mommy and Daddy left me. I guess it's for good this time._

**(A/n: Please continue reading, the story-line gets deeper in the next chapter, I hope you'll like it :D****)..**


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/n: I own NOTHING! Suzanne Collins owns everything. But I own the idea for this story and my OCs. Have fun reading!) **

**Chapter 2**

That was two years ago, she's been with President Snow and the pale mutts since then. At that moment she was five years old, Genive was six and Lume was seven. They had managed to get a total of twelve test subjects but the three of them stuck together. They had encountered a few issues, occasionally Lina's parents would come back and ask for answers and a few of the test subjects were quite rude. But the main problem was Lina was showing no signs of ever being injected with the Hunter Gene.

In 11 of the 12 subjects the Hunter Gene would spike and then disappear, it didn't do that with Lina. At all. But the spikes with the other subjects weren't that great either, they were tiny things like healing as soon as they got cut, going into random uncontrollable rage, suddenly becoming completely oblivious to what people around them are saying. That's what the Hunter Gene was made to do, turn everyone around you into a target.

"I'm shutting down the program Seneca." As usual they were having a study session in the library, and as usual President Snow was shouting at Seneca through the phone. No one ever knew what he was talking about. No one except the mutt teachers. There were about 10 of them that helped train them, they were trained in all sorts of things. Logic, hunting, weapon handling but none of it was supposed to be necessary. The gene was supposed to do it for you. It was made to be the ultimate survival instinct that taught you how to do almost anything and everything on the spot.

"The gene isn't working! It's wasting my time and money." He was silent for about five minutes before speaking again, "So you want me to send the subjects to the Districts? The ones with the most peaking get sent two 1 2 and 4 and the rest of them get sent to 11 and 12. From there we monitor them from afar."

"Remember today is last dose day so be prepared." The mutt teacher was speaking to them again in an upbeat voice which was a change from his usual monotone slur. They had finally figured out how large the dose had to be for it to work, it was going to be administered on the last day. Then as President Snow said, they were going to be dispersed amongst the Districts judging on how far along they were progress wise. Everyone was on the exact same level except Lina. The drug didn't work on her at all.

"Class dismissed. Please make your way over to the administration room." Lina, Gineve and Lume walked to the AR in silence, they didn't want to be split up but with Lina's lack of reaction it was bound to happen. She was going to end up in 12 and they were going to end up in 1, 2 or 4. It was highly unlikely that they were going to end up together. They were leaving straight after the shots.

Lina always dreaded them, the gene floated on top of her blood like water and oil while everyone else said it just felt like a normal injection. She was obviously different.

"Next!" It was her turn, and as usual she reluctantly stepped up as the pale mutt took out the black metal coffee holder. She sat down and barely had enough time to make herself comfortable before he jabbed it into her arm and pressed down on the lever. She almost threw up at the feeling, it was worse than usual and took ages to fade away. But she got up and walked to her room anyway. She waited about three hours before a Peacekeeper came to pick her up, she was going to be staying at the children's orphanage in District 12. The Gamemakers were convinced that putting her in District 12 where she would practically starve to death would jump start the Gene to help her find food.

The Peacekeeper put her in handcuffs and pushed her on the train, he said they were just a precaution. She still had the two white ribbons tied around her wrists.

The train ride was about an hour-long and the curtains were drawn so she couldn't see outside. "Oi, they told me that you need to change into this." He handed her a plain black dress and some boots, they were completely different to the plain white uniform she had worn for two years.

The Peacekeeper took off her handcuffs and led her to a bathroom, she changed clothes and he handed her an itchy brown cardigan when she got outside. The train screeched to a halt soon after. She took careful steps off the train, it was her first time outside in two whole years. It wasn't as amazing as she thought it would be, the air was cold and made her uncomfortable. They walked from the train station to the children's orphanage where he dropped her off and left.

"Come inside dear," a tired looking woman with black hair and tan skin was at the door. Her clothes resembled Lina's just more worn looking.

"I'm Nora. Don't worry we know everything that happened at the Capitol and we know that they're monitoring you... but don't worry about all that! You'll fit in great."

That was a year ago and Lina was still holding a grudge against Nora for lying. She didn't fit in at all, mostly because of the way she looked. She already knew everything at school, they didn't like her because she was smart. No one partnered up with her in PE, they didn't like her because she was way more advanced than them. All in all the other kids just didn't like her, although there was this one girl named Katniss that would sometimes sit with her at lunch.

Randomly Nora got a call from the Gamemakers, they were shutting off Lina's monitoring system because she hadn't shown signs of anything in the two years she had been at the Seam. Apparently all the other kids had activated the gene and were killing people left, right and centre. So they were going to be recollected and monitored back at the Capitol.

_Everyone's leaving me behind. Again._

Lina went on living her life in the Seam, she got used to being constantly hungry. The kids were always mean so she got used to that too, but one day at school another little girl made a remark about Lina's father. Lina stared down at the ribbons still tied around her wrists and tears welled up in her eyes. Despite everything she had been through she was still fragile and it was only a matter of time before everyone caught up with her academically. Nothing she could do would be special anymore. She always had Lume and Gineve there to protect her. She was abnormally small for her age and was quite weak, which was another reason why the Gamemakers gave up on her.

All her life people had been snapping at her, asking why she wasn't perfect. The kids at school done it, Nora done it, the Mutts back in the Capitol done it even her mother done it. She felt like she was being raised by wolves, when she wasn't one of the pack. It happened in her life as Trinnie and even more so in her life as Lina. It felt like it would never end. The pent-up rage was bound to come out at some point, and once it did it would never stop. She was dreading the day it would happen.

Five years later all 11 of the test subjects unexplainably died off. Project Hunter Gene was shut down and Lina Blackwood was left in District Twelve to collect dust, like an old toy or a boring book.

By this time Lina was 11 and slowly approaching her first reaping. She was told of The Hunger Games when she first arrived at the Seam and personally she thought it was a long process. They might as well have just sent Peacekeepers into each District to kill 2 people each year. But from what she remembered Capitol citizens were all about being entertained for as long as possible, which was probably the reason why the Hunger Games took so long to finish.

The year up until her first reaping was uneventful she didn't bother training. She would probably be killed anyway. Her birthday flew by and reaping day arrived. Two teenagers that she didn't know were selected, she felt sorry for them. They didn't stand a chance against the Careers, they were both skinny and underfed. It had been a long time since she had seen a Capitol citizen too, Effie was the epitome of Capitol citizen. Slightly tinted pink skin, huge hair, unbelievably bright clothes here she looked like and idiot but back in the Capitol her style must've been all the rage.

Another uneventful year drew by, followed by another and another and another. She had survived 4 reapings and had lived a total of 16 years her 17th birthday was fast approaching and every year it was a week before the reaping and that year she had a bad feeling about it.

Every year she would celebrate her birthday by herself in her room. She was slowly getting more and more depressed, she was a social butterfly by nature just like her mother. Being lonely was a feeling she never wanted to feel, she was way too kind to have everyone hate her. Living in District 12 was depressing and she was starting to hate it as much as she hated the Capitol. But nothing compared to the amount of uncontrollable and undying hate she had for President Snow. She was probably too weak to kill him but she had always been a dreamer.

The week after her birthday flew past like it did every year. The reaping came way faster than it should've and as usual she wasn't ready.

"Why aren't you awake yet? Get up you lazy child! Your lucky your only 17, when you turn 18 you can kiss us all goodbye!" And as usual Nora would come tearing into her room at an ungodly hour questioning why she was still asleep.

"I see you're cheerful as usual Nora." And as usual Lina had to taunt her. She personally couldn't wait till the day she turned 18 either, she didn't know what she was going to do once she had to leave the orphanage but it was better than being there.

"Just hurry up and go downstairs, the children are crying." That was pretty much her daily occupation, taking care of the younger kids. Nora wasn't exactly nice to them, so she took it upon herself to be the Samaritan. She was taking tesserae just so they would be well fed and there were about 10 kids. That meant she was taking tesserae a total of 17 times. Even with those numbers being against her she was sure that she wouldn't get picked, it was her name amongst thousands.

She made her way downstairs and set up breakfast for the kids, it was bread made from the tesserae grain and some goat's milk. Katniss' sister Prim was always up for donating milk. By the time they had all eaten and were sitting in their room it was around midday. It had taken her longer than usual but she was in no rush that day.

Nora came and took her place at around 1pm. She had an hour to get ready for the reaping so she decided to take an extra long bath. Being in the bath was enjoyable for her, considering it was basically the only time she would get to herself. She finally pulled herself out of the bath about a half hour later and got dressed. She was wearing a plain black dress with her signature brown boots, it didn't matter what she was wearing you could guarantee she would be wearing her boots.

She combed her hair out and left it down. She still had her altered face and hair. It was still unbelievably bright red and she still had high cheek bones with a beauty spot that sat underneath her left eye. Her lips were still way too full and she was still tan.

She left the orphanage after kissing each of the children goodbye, Nora was practically asking her to volunteer just by the look in her eyes.

"There are 4 tributes this year, which gives you 2 shots at getting chosen." Nora was being optimistic as usual.

"Bye." Lina shrugged off the comment and kept walking. That year 4 tributes were being chosen to prolong the Games.

When she got there she was sorted into the older females category, the younger one were at the front. It was the same for the males. She spotted Prim in the crowd in front of her, she was as tiny as ever. Prim reminded Lina of herself, small and fragile. Too afraid to hurt anyone.

She was thrown off her train of thought when Effie walked on stage. She gave her usual speech and they played the stupid Capitol propaganda video.

"My name is Effie Trinket and I will be selecting the four lucky tributes from District Twelve this year. Aren't you all excited?"

She was responded with complete silence. _Obviously not._

"Um... Lets move onto our first female tribute." A Peacekeeper wheeled on a rack with the giant glass bowl on top of it. There were at least five thousand names inside.

Effie dipped her hand daintily into the bowl. The way she moved reminded her of her mother, she done everything with an air of fanciness and held things with the tips of her fingers. Never her whole hand, she said it made her seem "Brute," which obviously wasn't true.

"And this years female tribute is," she paused for dramatic effect as she opened the envelope with the tips of her fingers. "Katniss Everdeen!" The crowd of older females shifted around her and made space for Katniss to get past. She looked shocked for about a minute before coming to her senses and moving. Lina could hear Prim crying in the audience as Katniss wordlessly made her way past Effie and stood at the back of the stage. "Would anyone like to volunteer for this lovely lady? No? Well then, give our newest tribute Katniss Everdeen a warm welcome." The audience let out a few small claps before Effie decided to move on.

"Our next female tribute is." She pulled out another folded piece of paper and her eyes bulged out of their sockets as she read the next name. "Well, if it isn't Katniss' sister. Primrose Everdeen!"

She heard Prim's cries come to a stand still in audience. A few grumbles came from the crowd, after all she was only 12.

Katniss started to beg the audience with her eyes frantically from the stage and her mother stood at the sidelines begging someone to volunteer.

_I can't just stand here._

Prim gulped and took her first step towards the stage.

_But I have so much more to worry about. The kids need me._

"Prim!" Lina could hear their mother crying out from the sidelines.

"Come along Primrose, we need to move on." Effie was still encouraging her to step on stage. "Would anyone like to volunteer?" Effie knew no one would, as an entertained smirk played on her bright pink lips.

"Someone do something!" Their mother was getting desperate, and just as she was about to jump over the red rope a pair of Peacekeepers dragged her away. Her fading cries rang in Lina's ears and reminded her of her father. On that day where he came to pick her up and she was announced as dead.

Suddenly something inside her snapped and the words flew out of her mouth without her consent. "I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!" Effie's head snapped up and the audience turned to stare at her. Katniss stared at her with thankful eyes and Prim was being dragged away from the stage by Gale.

Effie coughed awkwardly before proceeding, "Come on up dear." Lina practically ran up to the stage. "What's your name?"Her voice was caught in her throat and she stared blankly at Effie before she repeated herself.

"... Your name?"

She snapped out of her daze and went red with embarrassment, "Lina Blackwood."

Effie smiled and helped her up onto the stage. "Well Lina, you're now in the running to become a Hunger Games victor. Everyone give a round of applause to our fabulous female tributes." A few lone claps came from the audience before Effie moved onto the male tributes.

"Peeta Mellark." A boy with blonde hair and blue eyes that Lina recognised as the bakers son stepped onto the stage. He was tall and had broad shoulders, he had obviously been well fed.

She stuck her hand in the glass bowl for a long time for dramatic effect then shouted out the name.

"Julian Knight!" She had seen Julian at school when she was younger. But he was in the year above her so she only saw him at lunch breaks. He was tall but thin and obviously underfed. He looked like a typical Seam male, black hair and grey eyes, although he was a tiny bit lighter.

Her observations where cut short when she was whisked off to the Justice Building by a few Peacekeepers. They shut her in a room with a few leather seats and told her she had half an hour to say all of her goodbyes. It was going to be a short half hour considering she had no one to say goodbye to. Nora didn't stop by, so she wouldn't get to say goodbye to the kids.

_Well now I have to come home safely. My babies need me._

"Thank you so much!" Lina felt arms around her neck and looked down to see a teary eyed prim.

"Don't cry, you give us milk almost everyday. It's the least I can do."

"Milk isn't worth someone's life."

Lina ignored Prim's last comment and kept talking. "Prim, promise me you'll continue giving the kids milk. If not, I'm pretty sure Nora will let them starve."

Prim nodded and was dragged out by a Peacekeeper soon after. "Take care of Katniss for me!"

"Your time is up Ms Blackwood, we have to get going. The train has arrived." He led her from the Justice Building down to the train station and then onto the train. She had to stand in front of it for a few minutes while the photographers attacked her with flashing lights and questions. As soon as the Peacekeeper told her she could get on the train she practically tore the door off its hinges just attempting to get inside. The same Peacekeeper lead her too her room and left. The draws were filled with fine clothes and there was even a shower in the bathroom. She sat around for a while, trying to accustom herself to the high speeds of the moving train before finally getting into the shower. It was her first ever shower, it felt like summer rain but warmer. She finally got out and put on some clothes. A pair of semi –tight brown cloth trousers and a cream tunic. She put on her boots and let her hair air dry. She was too afraid to use the automatic wind blower in the bathroom.

As she made her way to the dining compartment she thought about her next week of life. She had to play her cards right, one wrong move could end her life. She needed a game plan, something to go by so that she wouldn't die on the spot.

_Act completely aloof and distant? ...No, that won't land me any allies. Act overly friendly and completely not worried? Nope, I would get tired of doing that by day 2, I'm friendly already. Just not overly friendly and being myself is not going to work. _

Her thoughts were cut short when she found herself colliding with the dining compartment door and falling onto the floor. She sat on the floor holding her slowly swelling head and looked up when the door opened. "What exactly are you doing on the floor? And what was that thunk?" To her surprise it was Julian at the door.

Lina felt her blood rush to her cheeks as she turned red, "Oh, I got distracted and sort of walked head first into the door."

He gave her a disbelieving before laughing, "You're a real airhead."

Suddenly the truth that had been staring her in the face came rushing towards her.

_That's it! I'll play dumb._

She got up and dusted herself off, she wasn't the plotting type but being a test subject at the Capitol taught her how deceive people with her appearance. After all, that was why they changed her face. She walked into the dining compartment to find everyone already seated. Well, everyone but Haymitch. She took a seat next to Katniss. They had already served dinner, well they had served what Effie called a starter. A giant bowl of carrot soup. _Just my bowl could feed 3 of my babies back at the orphanage. _A sudden determination started to burn in Lina's chest. She decided in that instance that she was going to win. That way her babies could live their lives in peace and away from Nora.

A few minutes later Lina had realised why Effie has called it a starter. The Capitol citizens had a bad habit of serving dinner in chunks. She thought it was stupid, since no one would have room for all that food. Especially them, everyone was still eating with a knife and fork but you could sense the desperate atmosphere as they struggled to keep down as much food as possible. All their lives they had been denied such a simple necessity and in one day they were having it literally shoved in their faces. Lina lost her appetite around the lamb chops and the green salad. She couldn't help feeling guilty. Her mind was flicked to her babies throughout the whole of dinner, she only snapped back out of it when they were led to another compartment to watch the recap of the reapings.

A few people stood out to all of them. The career tributes from Districts One and Two, a sneaky looking red head girl from District 5 and most of the tributes from District Eleven. Everything was varied that year, some of the tributes were unbelievably large or undeniably small in contrast. District Twelve finally showed up on the screen and Effie made a face when she saw Haymitch on stage.

"Your mentor has a lot to learn about presentation. A lot about televised behaviour."  
Peeta laughed unexpectedly. "He was drunk," He stated in a matter of fact tone. "He's drunk every year."

"Every day," Katniss added. She couldn't help smirking a little. Effie made it sound like Haymitch just had somewhat rough manners that could be corrected with a few tips from her. Haymitch finally came strolling in and barely managed to get out a word before throwing up all over the carpet and falling to the floor.$  
"Yes," hissed Effie Trinket. "How odd you find it amusing. You know your  
mentor is your lifeline to the world in these Games. The one who advises you, lines  
up your sponsors, and dictates the presentation of any gifts. Haymitch can well be  
the difference between your life and your death!" She pointed at Haymitch with her pointy shoes before shouting, "So laugh away!" Then she proceeded to tiptoe her way out of the compartment.

Everyone stopped and stared blankly each other before looking back at Haymitch. Lina decided it was time to put her new airhead personality into play. "Shouldn't we clean him up or something?" She could almost feel the eye rolling in the room before Peeta made his way over to Haymitch and helped him out of his bodily waste. Katniss walked over and helped, "You two can go to bed, and we'll handle him for tonight." Peeta was being overly nice as usual but Lina wasn't complaining, seeing Haymitch naked wasn't exactly on her list of things to do instead of sleep.

"Okay then. Thanks." Lina stepped around the vomit and into the hallway after thanking them and Julian followed her lead. They walked to their rooms without a word, they had made a silent mutual agreement. They were both way too tired to be talking. His room was two doors down from hers Katniss' and Peeta's were in between theirs.

"Goodnight Airhead." He was way too laid back for someone who was heading to certain death. _Being laid back must be way better than constantly stressing over it._

"Goodnight Julian," That night as Lina retreated to her room she thought about everything and nothing. About her past, and her life in the near future. If she was still alive anyway. But most of all she thought about her parents. What if they were still alive? She still had the two white ribbons her father had given her. She tied them into her hair that night, it comforted her. She felt like the innocent Capitol citizen she had been all those years ago. How would life had turned out if she was still a Capitol citizen?

**(A/n: I can't help it. I'm a review whore. Send me them in silver parachutes, or you can ask Finnick to bring me them. :D**

**Oh and my dearies, I have decided to give you all the VOTE! Dun dun dunnnnn. What would you like to see happen?**

**More romance**

**More death**

**More drama**

**More action**

**More of all of the above**

**More other**

**Answer me in the review section or you can just send me a pm especially if you want something to happen that doesn't fit any of the aforementioned criteria!**

**Remember to review**

**Love **

**Anon3233)**


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/n: I OWN NOTHING. But I do want some Peeta bread, *sigh* this is real life though. All I have access to is Pita bread -_-)**

**Chapter 3**

Lina found herself being jerked awake by Effie knocking on her door. "Up, up, up! It's going to be a big, big, big day!" Then she heard the click of Effie's shoes slowly distance themselves from her room. It was only a matter of time before someone decided to complain.

It reminded her of the wake up calls back at the Capitol. Only they were much less pleasant, every morning a mutt would come and slam on each of their doors. After waking up they would have to line up in front of their cell doors for morning check ups. Just to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary, and then they were all marched to the bathroom. Anyone that missed morning line up would be taken to the back room in the AR. Unfortunately with her habit of constantly waking up late Lina was no stranger to the back room.

The longest she had ever spent in there was a week. She had slept in 3 days in a row. She remembered her times in the back room. It had plain white walls and a padded floor. The only light that came in was from a tiny window in the corner of the back wall. Other than that she was sitting in constant darkness. She wasn't given food during her stay there and she would only be rationed half a cup of water. Staying hydrated was a priority since the Gene seemed to be dehydrating the test subjects.

Lina finally made her way out of bed and into the bathroom, they were arriving at the Capitol that day, looking fresh out of bed wasn't going to earn her very many sponsors. At first she struggled with the shower, there were far too many buttons on it for her likings. She ended up punching the button pad and being doused in lemon scented soap and shampoo. After she washed it all off she didn't smell too bad, but she felt tangy.

She finally settled on getting dressed and put on a pair of dark brown leggings and a cream tunic. The usual brown boots were added to the mix. She untied the ribbons from her hair and tied them both around one wrist. Then she combed it out, since she was altered it had been curly. Not untameable curls, but the kind that looked like they were made with a curling iron. They were practical so actually styling her hair wasn't necessary.

She then took a slow walk from her room to the dining car. She only got in after fumbling with door for at least ten minutes. Then she realised she was supposed to push, not pull. "Finally figured out the door airhead?" As usual Julian would be waiting with either a snappy remark or a sarcastic look. Last night she thought he was kind of nice, but she was being proved wrong,

"...Leave me alone." She didn't know what to say at that point so she figured a simple request to leave her alone would do. She was almost knocked off her feet by Effie who rushed past her holding a cup of coffee muttering obscenities under her breath. Haymitch was seated smugly although his face was swollen, probably from the events on the night before. Effie had a clear amount of dislike for him but Lina felt the complete opposite.

She quite liked Haymitch if you just let him drink as much as he wanted he would leave you alone. "Sit down! Sit down!" Haymitch was waving her over from his seat and as soon as she sat down a giant platter of food was placed in front of her. The silver platter was piled up with eggs, ham and fried potatoes. A tiny bowl of fruit sat in a bigger bowl of ice to keep it cool. She was about to take a bite then guilt overthrew her she would never be able to eat if that happened every time. Instead she settled for the cup of brown frothy liquid sitting in front of the platter. It was sweet and warmed her down to her lungs. Katniss was draining the cup filled with the same liquid next to her.

She spent the next few minutes clearing out her plate. Katniss finished before her then sat back and observed the rest of them. Peeta was dipping bits of bread into his drink while Julian just sat there looking bored. He irritated Lina, who had the time to be bored when they're riding a train towards their death? Haymitch was sipping on some red spirit the fumes were starting to cling to the air in the room.

A look of hatred crossed Katniss' face for a split second before she opened her mouth and spoke, "So, you're supposed to give us advice." She stared at him expectantly, her eyes showing that same hatred from before.

He took a large gulp from his cup before choking, after coughing for what seemed like ages he cleared his throat. "Here's some advice. Stay alive," Before bursting into uncontrollable guaffs of laughter. Lina could almost feel the rage forming in Katniss.

Lina looked at Peeta for a split second to find a surprising hardness in his eyes, he usually looked so soft. "That's very funny," he said before suddenly lashing out at the glass of spirit in Haymitch's hand. The glass shattered upon impact and the blood-red liquid pooled on the wooden floor. "Only not to us." The hardness in his eyes faded into a rage filled smoulder.

Haymitch sat and considered what he said for a moment, before punching Peeta square in the jaw, knocking him out of his chair. Lina saw Katniss reach for one of the many knives set out before her, and drove it into the table between Haymitch's fingers when he reached for the spirits. She raised an arm to her face, preparing to deflect his hit.

Lina scooted her chair back from the table and brought her hands to her mouth. She was genuinely shocked, were they even allowed to attack their mentors? Julian seemed to find it hilarious, and fell off his chair with sudden laughter. Effie turned bright red with rage at the end of the table, her voice had turned high-pitched with rage as she shouted, and "That is mahogany!" **(A/n: I had to.) **She let out another high-pitched shriek when she found herself being ignored.

Instead of hitting Katniss as Lina thought he would, he sat back in his seat and squinted at them. Obviously scrutinizing them, "Well, what's this?" said Haymitch. "Did I actually get a pair of fighters this year?" Peeta rose from the floor with a deep scowl on his face. His jaw was already bruising he grabbed some of the ice from one of the fruit bowls and went to put it on his face. "No, let the bruise show. The audience will think you've mixed it up with another tribute before you've even made it to the arena." _You get sponsors for being violent? My chances of getting any have dwindled down to nothing._

"That's against the rules," says Peeta.

"Only if they catch you. That bruise will say you fought, you weren't caught,  
even better," said Haymitch, he turned to Katniss. "Can you hit anything with that knife  
besides a table?" She stood in silence for a bit before yanking the knife out of the table and throwing it at the wall. It lodged itself between to panels and from the look on her face you could tell it was an accident. Effie let out an annoyed sigh from her seat.

Then words came flying out of Lina's mouth "If you had taken two steps back and held the knife at a 45 degree angle you could've lodged it way deeper into the wall. Holding the knife like that is awkward you should try putting your thumb on the top and releasing faster." Everyone turned to look at her and Julian finally got up off the floor and stopped laughing.

Haymitch stared at her to the point where she became uncomfortable and started fidgeting. "How do you know that?"_ I'd like to know too!_

She fidgeted some more before her mouth made the words for her. "Well, she's obviously too close to the wall. I guess it's just common knowledge?" He narrowed his eyes at her and turned back to Katniss and Peeta.

"Stand over here. Both of you," said Haymitch, nodding to the middle of the room. They obeyed and he circled them, prodding them like animals at times, checking their muscles, examining their faces. "Well, you're not entirely hopeless. And once the stylists get hold of you, you'll be attractive enough." They don't question it. The Hunger Games weren't a beauty contest, but the best-looking tributes always seemed to pull more sponsors. "All right, I'll make a deal with you. You don't interfere with my drinking, and I'll stay sober enough to help you," said Haymitch. "But you have to do exactly what I say."

"Fine," said Peeta.

"So help us," Katniss said. "When we get to the arena, what's the best strategy at the Cornucopia for someone —"

"One thing at a time. In a few minutes, we'll be pulling into the station." He turned to look at me and Julian, "You'll be put in the hands of your stylists. You're not going to like what they do to you.  
But no matter what it is, don't resist," said Haymitch.

"But —" Katniss started.

"No buts. Don't resist," said Haymitch. He grabbed his spirit and took a swig. Then he left and the carriage was engulfed in darkness. A few lights from outside shone through the windows, they were driving through the tunnels that lead into the Capitol. They all sat in tense silence, being surrounded in stone was a scary concept. The train's wheels came to a grinding halt, and light encased the once dark compartment. Lina sat shaking in her seat while the rest of them took off running towards the window. She wasn't ready to see all of it again. She could hear them, talking about the colours, the shine, and the grandeur of the buildings she once knew. The strangely coloured people that she once lived amongst, the faces of the people that had never missed a meal in their lives. She could hear their high-pitched voices as the screamed and pointed at the tribute train. Katniss backed away from the window, sickened by their happiness. Peeta stayed where he was, waving at the crowd while Julian stood in front of the window laughing. He thought the people looked utterly ridiculous.

Lina stared at Peeta she couldn't seem to understand how he looked so comfortable. He saw her staring at him and shrugged. "Who knows?" he said. "One of them may be rich."

_I misjudged him the nice guy approach was obviously an act. He's probably thinking of ways to kill all of us right now._

Lina was still shaking in her seat, she wanted nothing to do with the Capitol and she just noticed. She didn't want to eat their food, bathe in their water, talk to their people, walk on their ground she didn't even want to breathe their air. The seat on the carriage was her only safe place. Everyone else had already made their way out of the train and were being eaten by the cameras out front. "Ma'am you have to make your way off the train now." A peacekeeper was standing at the door way.

"What?" She had finally snapped out of her Capitol induced daze and looked up at him.

"You have to make your way of the train, we've arrived." She shot up from her seat and let out a small "oh".

Lina found herself standing in front of the doorway staring out into the abyss of bright colours and flashing lights called the paparazzi. Her mind was frozen. She didn't know what to do, then her system kicked into overdrive and a shy smile made its way to her lips. She walked casually down the stairs and stood next to Katniss, keeping the same shy smile in place the entire time. "Okay, okay. That's enough now, they need to go inside, shoo, shoo." Effie tiptoed out of the train with her makeup looking brighter than before, she put away a tube of lipstick in the tiny purse she was holding and proceeded in shooing the photographers. "Come along you four, try not to lag behind."

Once the throng of flashing lights had dispersed, Effie tiptoed off at top speed. "The stylists won't be able to wait any longer, the designing wont get itself done..." Her voice was unnaturally high and sounded like she was singing a song. The two Peacekeepers standing behind them shoved them all into a car and walked away. There were another two sitting inside, "We're on our way to the holding building, and it's where everything will take place before the games." Motion sickness kept everyone quiet, the train was moving so fast it was hardly noticeable, but the car was moving much slower. "We're here!" She extended the E on the end of her sentence for as long as she could, then ushered everyone out of the car before tiptoeing her way out. "It's time for you to get ready for the stylists for now it's bye-bye I'll see you all at lunch." She smiled before heading off in a random direction.

They weren't allowed to stand around for very long either since they were pushed into the building, not given enough time to observe their surroundings and shoved into an elevator. It was made of glass that didn't break when they stepped on it. It went up one floor then stopped. Lina was the first to take a step out before being attacked by a crowd of colourful people. "We asked for the redhead!" A pair of finely manicured hands grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back.

"I don't care Venia!" Venia was a woman with aqua hair and a golden maze of tattoos on her forehead. The woman shouting at her was rather large, and was covered in black Celtic looking swirls. "Caelus already picked. You know what he's like when things don't go his way..."

The aqua haired woman released her iron grip on Lina in a split second, whoever "Caelus" was he didn't seem to be very friendly. "Fine Runia, take her." Venia turned around and grabbed Peeta by the shoulder then dragged him behind two giant double doors.

"She won't look as good though!" A man with orange corkscrew locks and purple lipstick turned and shouted before grabbing Katniss and disappearing behind the same doors.

"Don't mind them, you'll look great. Let's go, the other members are waiting to get started. There are two more of us, Kin and Defra. Then there's Caelus, he'll only see you once you're finished." Lina found herself lying on a metal table in just a thin robe. Julian had disappeared long ago with Runia and she was left with a man with bright red hair that came down to his collar bones and bright orange skin that had yellow patches. He introduced himself as Kin. The woman next to him had deep purple hair and lavender skin.

She didn't spend much time observing since she was reintroduced to the world of pain when they ripped the last hairs of her legs. They didn't even give her time to process what was going on before pushing her up off the table, ripping off her robe and practically bathing her in grease. "You look so altered, I haven't seen one person from District Twelve that looks like you." Defra was plucking at her eyebrows while Kin evened out her finger nails. "Well, that is that. Caelus is coming in now. Here's some tips, stand up straight, mouth closed, shoulders back, chin up and keep talking to a complete minimum. Okay?" Lina nodded and they both stepped out. She stood in the middle of the room as naked as the day she was born when a tall thin man walked in.

He seemed elf like, with long white blonde hair that touched his lower back and skin that was tinged the lightest shade of blue. His eyes were frosty grey and had an evil air to them. "Did I get the redhead?" He walked into the room and pulled her hair, "Good. I wanted you, I like making Cinna mad." He tugged on her hair a few more times before giving it once last long pull.

"Do you mind?" The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them. It was too late for that and now she had to stand her ground.

"Excuse you?" He raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow and crossed his arms across his body defensively.

"Well, in case you haven't noticed my hair is attached to my head. So that hurts, and I'm uncomfortable enough already," she stepped off the pedestal and grabbed her robe. "I don't see a point in me standing here naked so I won't." She crossed her arm and sat on the sofa pushed up against the wall. "Now tell me the design idea."

He laughed and sat across her, "I like you, you're unique. Normal people would've stood there quietly." She stared blankly at him before he sighed and continued. "So Cinna is going with the idea of fire," her confused face was enough. "When you burn coal you get fire. District Twelve is the coal miners' district." He made the statement dryly and kept reading off the sheet of paper in front of him. "After you burn coal, you get ash and smoke. Cinna took fire, we take the ash. Understood?"

"At least I'm not naked."

He laughed and helped her off the seat. A few hours later she was completely different.

She was wearing a grey layered dress that had a low dipping neckline. Instead of it being made of one piece of fabric it was made of many translucent fabrics, in different shades of grey and different lengths. The shortest part of dress was cut to above her navel and got longer as it went down. The longest part of the dress trailed on the floor. She wore a pair of grey briefs that looked like bandages that had been layered on top of each other over and over and instead of shoes she wore the fabric. The different shades had been braided and placed on her feet to mimic a sandal. She had a braided garter tied around her thigh and one around her arm. The one her thigh had some fabric flowing off it. Her hair was straightened while her bangs were pulled back by another fabric braid. "I am magical." Caelus sat behind her on the puffy sofa watching her as she admired his handiwork. "Put this on." He handed here a black shiny leathered unitard that covered her from neck to toe. "It should burn off half way through the performance, we're setting you on fire along with Cinna's pair." She hesitantly put it on, she didn't feel too great about being set on fire.

"No time for chat, we're nearly late and its still makeup time." He dragged her over to a giant chair in front of a brightly lit vanity and pushed her into the seat. "Nothing too heavy, just the basics." Surely enough she didn't look like a complete clown. He covered up the braid in her hair with a leather band. "See, still recognisable. Lets go." He pulled her up out of the seat and pushed her out of the room. _You'd think I can't walk without being pushed._

They headed to the giant stable called the Remake Centre and stood around. Lina was relatively happy to find out that Julian was dressed in the same thing, just shirtless and with longer shorts. The opening ceremonies were about to start. Pairs of tributes were being loaded into chariots pulled by teams of four horses. Theirs were coal black but you could see the steel grey sheen. The animals were so well trained, no one even needed to guide their reins.

The tributes from District 1 rode out on a chariot pulled by snow-white horses. They looked beautiful, spray-painted silver, in tasteful tunics glittering with jewels. District 1 made luxury items for the Capitol. You could hear the roar of the crowd. They were always favourites.

District 2 got into position to follow them. In no time at all, they were approaching the door and could see that between the overcast sky and evening hour the light was turning grey. The tributes from District 11 were just rolling out when Cinna appeared with a lighted torch. "Here we go then," he says, and before we can react he sets our capes on fire. Katniss gasped, waiting for the heat, but there is only a faint tickling sensation. Cinna climbed onto their chariot and gave them what seemed like a peptalk, while Caelus just stood at the bottom screaming profanity at Lina.

Then Katniss' and Peeta's chariot took off. Lina's and Julian's came soon after. The crowd was silenced with shock then broke into hoots and hollers of "District 12!" They were the centre of attention, and the six chariots in front of them were completely forgotten. Then the flames on Lina and Julian spread and burned faster, covering the whole chariot and the horses. The audience fell silent again, it looked as if they were being burnt alive. Then, in the heat of the moment the black leather suits burnt off and smoke poured off their now grey figures. The whole chariot changed from black to grey steel and their costumes changed back to the grey flowing outfits they had on before, leaving a literal wispy cloud of black smoke in their wake. The entire crowd began screaming again, and the chariots ground to a halt in front of President Snows balcony where he gave them the official welcome. The cameras were supposed to be giving each District an average amount of screen time, but both District 12 teams were receiving way more than usual. The anthem played one last time as they cut around each of the tributes as they rode out, but lingered on District 12 as the doors slammed shut.

Lina heard all of the stylists congratulating their tributes, Julian had disappeared in the two minutes they had been back in the stable leaving her alone, with Caelus. "Tell me what was wrong with your performance you spaced out child? You literally stared into space the entire time. Pay more attention!" She was most definitely not expecting congratulations from him.

"Leave me alone you noisy man. I did fine." He was not expecting her to take his insults without a fight.

After they returned the costumes and said goodbye to their designers they were driven to the Training Centre. They would be staying there until the actual Games begun, each district had its own floor. All they had to do was step into the glass elevator and press their district number.

On the morning they arrived at the Training Centre Effie had been talking to them about sponsors, she would be overseeing them along with Haymitch until they entered the arena. She had been buttering them up all day, reminding them of how there were lucky to be staying in the penthouse.

Lina couldn't deny it, her room was gorgeous. Plush like the train cart but filled with colours she had never seen, greens that were much brighter than the leaves that blew in from beyond the fence back in the Seam. And she had a bed that was almost bigger than her room. The bathroom was intimidating at first, it seemed sterile, coloured completely white with green accents. The shower was like the one on the carriage, but it had more buttons. A choice of shampoos, soaps, oils and conditioners were spelled out onto the silver buttons. Towel drying wasn't necessary, there was a drying pad that blew hot air at her, one just like it was implanted in the wall across her for drying her hair. All she had to do was put her hand on the shiny cube next to her and a warm breeze of air would caress her hair till it dried.

Effie called her for dinner right as she finished getting dressed, and when she stepped out of her room she was surprised to see Haymitch sober. It was the first time any of them had seen him eat. Lina wondered if the kids back at the orphanage had seen her on TV that day, they had one but it was banged up and needed to be bashed on the side to get the screen working. Felix, the eldest of the kids back home was the best at it. He was only 8, the thought of him smacking his tiny fist against the side of the TV bought a smile to her face. She missed them, a lot. "I'm going to sleep now. It's been a horrendously long day." Lina decided it was time to go to sleep. Not that she was tired, interacting with normal humans wasn't on her list of things to do that night. Neither was sleep, despite that she fake yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Good, you need as much beauty sleep as you can get... I refuse to work with dark circles!" Caelus had to add a comment at the last minute, Lina gave him one last irritated look before walking off to her bedroom. She sat under the shower all night that night, and pretended she was back in the Seam. During the summer, when it never stopped raining. The shower head mimicked it perfectly. All she was missing now was home.

**(A/n: REVIEW ME.)**

**(A/n: Pretty please with sugar cubes on top****.)**

**(A/n: ****Oh and my dearies, I have decided to give you all the VOTE! Dun dun dunnnnn. What would you like to see happen?**

**More romance**

**More death**

**More drama**

**More action**

**More of all the above**

**More other**

**Answer me in the review section or you can just send me a pm especially if you want something to happen that doesn't fit any of the aforementioned criteria!**

**Remember to review**

**Love**

**Anon3233)**


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N: I OWN NOTHING BUT THE IDEA. Right so no one pm'd me so I winged it, the ideas just weren't coming so please put up with the crapness of this chapter till I send it to my proof reader who is in Africa -.- ON WITH THE STORY.)**

**Chapter 4**

As the sun rose through the tiny window in the bathroom Lina became even more discouraged, getting up was not in her first interest, or her second, or her third neither was talking to anyone much less seeing anyone. So she just stayed where she was in the shower for a good couple of hours. She knew she missed breakfast but she didn't really care. She was becoming more and more solitary as the seconds drew by. A fancy looking clock on the wall told her it was 10:15am her mood didn't shift and neither did she. "Lina Blackwood! Where are you?" She could hear Effie clicking around her room in those stupid heels she wore.

"I'll have you know you are late, late, late! Training started at 10, that's a whole 15 minutes..." she finally slammed open the bathroom door and trailed off in her speech. "...Get up! Training has already started." Lina sat in silence. Her wet hair was blocking her face and the odds seemed to be in Effie's favour since Lina wasn't naked. She was sitting under the shower head in her underwear.

"I'm not going. Leave me alone, I'm already heading to certain death so there's no point in trying." Effie didn't seem to listen and dragged her out of the tub with a strength that didn't look like it fit into her tiny pink frame.

Effie dragged her next to her bed and resumed her speech. "Get up, get dressed and get out. I'll meet you at the elevator." She was practically threatening Lina with her words.

"I won't go. I told you already."

Effie's face turned read with rage and you could see her counting to 10, "Let me rephrase that. If you don't show up, I will come after you. I know this building like someone stamped the blueprints into my head, there's nowhere you can hide from me." With those final words Effie stomped out and slammed the door.

Lina sighed and got up, she moved to the bathroom and dried her hair. She put on the outfit that had been laid out for her. A long cream sweater, a tight pair of black pants and brown suede boots then tied her hair into a high ponytail. They weren't the same as her ones back home but they would do for the time being. She took a look at the clock one last time before leaving, it was 10:45. She didn't take too long so Effie had no reason to be angry.

She could already hear Effie tapping her pointy shoe before she even rounded the corner. She pinned a cloth square with the number 12 to Lina's back taking an extra moment to make sure she stabbed her. Then she shoved her into the elevator and pressed -1. It took less than a minute to arrive an Effie seemed to sigh endlessly till they got there. She pushed her out and left without a word.

The room was covered with training stations. Weaponry, hand to hand combat, snare setting. Then there were stations for what seemed to be survival skills, camouflage, edible insects and poisonous plants. Everyone was dispersed amongst the room and she didn't have much time to process anything before a tall athletic looking woman approached her. "So you're the latecomer. I'll forget it for now. The rules are the same for you as they are for everyone else." Lina could see a few of the other tributes turn to look at her. The stares weren't exactly pleasant. "No fighting with other tributes, there are trained people on hand for that. Some of these stations teach survival and others teach fighting. You can change around whenever you feel like it but like I said, stick to the rules."

The lady walked back to her spot in the middle of the room and Lina looked around. Most of the careers were intimidating the smaller tributes, throwing around the heaviest weights then laughing and high-fiving each other. All the rest of the tributes were sticking to the survival training. The knife throwing station was practically empty and the knives were calling to her.

It had been like that all her life, anything that could possibly be used as a weapon had a specific glint to her. She remembered when she first got to the orphanage they had to start hiding the knives from her, she may have been too small to do any actual damage with them but they didn't like her. The dislike for her started with the intrigue that she had with weapons in general. Although it wasn't just the knives, she came with strange survival skills, she was found setting fires in the back yard. The first time she saw a bird in the Seam she killed it with a stone, birds hardly ever showed up in the Seam so she must've thought it was dangerous. Protecting herself had also always been a second nature, sensing danger was like her sixth sense.

She slowly walked over and the teacher stopped helping the career he was with. He didn't seem to need much help anyway. She stood in front of the knives laid out on the table and fingered their blades. "Welcome to knife throwing, do you happen to know anything about knives?" the man was intimidating, tall with a skinned head and red contacts.

At that moment the information came flying into her head and she was hit with a wave of nausea. "Well..." she could almost feel her mouth preparing to explain virtually every stance, position and distance at which you could throw a knife. "I know the basics." She didn't know where her words were coming from, she had never thrown a knife in her life.

The man stepped away from the group of dummies he was blocking and gestured at the knives, "Show me." Lina gave a silent nod and picked up the knife at the farthest end. She heard him make a small "Hmm..." at her choice. It was all black metal with no designs or an added handle. It was about 20cm long and was extra light.

"I wouldn't recommend that one for a beginner, lighter ones are harder to throw." She heard him comment behind her and she ignored it. For the first time in a while she felt in place. The knife felt good between her fingers and didn't get warm no matter how long she held it for. It felt nice against her seemingly heating skin, she could feel her blood boiling in her excitement.

There were a total of three dummies in front of her with 6 targets on each. She tucked the knives into their holster and strapped it around her waist. "Do I have to get all the targets?"

"No, just hit where you think is fatal. Go as fast as you can, speed is key when it comes to an unfair fight." She nodded silently again. She heard the career next to her start throwing and turned to look. It took all she had in her soul to not comment, he goes going much to fast and it was putting off his aim. His grip was completely wrong but his stance was alright. "Go ahead, don't be intimidated. You're only a beginner."

Lina took a deep breath threw her first knife faster than anyone would have thought. The whole room turned to look at the resounding whoosh and thud that was made. It was instantly followed by another whoosh and thud. There was a maximum three second gap between each throwing. She thought the names of the fatal places to herself as she aimed. _Jugular... Throw. Brachial artery... Throw. Radial artery... Throw. Right ventricle... Throw. _She repeated the fast process of thought and approval till she was done then stood still. "Lina, can you tell me why you hit those places?" the trainer sounded intrigued.

"All those spots should result in tamponade." She was in a trance, the knife throwing had put he at peace with herself.

"Elaborate...be more specific." He moved till he was in front of the dummies again. The room was still watching her in pure silence waiting for her answer. A few people expected her to say, "It will hurt the person the least." Only because she looked so harmless, short, small in frame with big doe eyes. She could possibly hurt anyone.

"When you get hit in the heart like that, the sac around the heart will fill with fluid, likely the person's blood; this will stop blood flow to the body. Death usually occurs within seconds, if not the person will go into cardiac arrest and most likely die." The silence in the room could be cut with a butter knife. She had just thrown knives with more accuracy than a career who had trained their whole life then explained what would happen if you got hit like that. It was almost threatening every person in the room. Then the trainer smiled and pulled out one of the knives, it took him a lot of effort considering that it was embedded at least 10cm deep into the dummies "heart". "If the knives are removed bleeding won't stop considering the left ventricle has just been hit. Victims will bleed to death." He managed to remove the knife he had been working on and as if to prove her point fake blood spilled out of the mechanical dummy that had been wired to have insides that functioned like a normal human beings. The word, "Dead" rolled onto the screen that it had instead of eyes and the same happened with the rest of them.

The rest of the tributes turned back to their stations and pretended to do something, in reality they were all murmuring about Lina. She was an opponent to be reckoned with, if she could find a knife in the arena death would be certain to most of her opponents. She would become a valuable ally. "Good job, want to try a moving target this time?" Lina shook her head and put down the knives. She kept one under her shirt, it was her comfort other than the ribbons.

"What, so you can't hit a moving target? If you're so good then show me." The tribute from the knife throwing station was taunting her, he was from district four judging by the cloth square pinned to his shirt. She ignored him and kept walking, she was looking for a less extravagant looking station than knife throwing. "Hey! Don't ignore me." He was tall and well fed, with broad shoulders and muscles that rippled with the flick of a finger.

He ran towards her and tried to grab her by the wrist, she felt electricity run up her spine and then her blood started pumping, she recognised the feeling of oil and water from somewhere. Then faster than she did before the grabbed the knife from under her shirt and threw it. It took a while for him to register what had happened before he found himself stuck to the floor. Lina had thrown the knife at the loosest part of his trouser leg with such force it knocked him off balance. He let go of her arm and tried pulling the knife out.

The electricity ran back down her spine and faded and the oil floating around in her blood disappeared. Then all she felt was pain. An excruciating pain that started at the tips of her ears and moved to her head then her neck. She could practically feel it in her hair. Then she screamed, the pain was too much for her to handle silently. She started to rip out her hair as she fell to her knees and screamed even louder. Blood started to trickle out of her ears and her nostrils followed by violent coughing. She could feel herself coughing up her throat out onto the floor as blood gushed out of her mouth like it had with the dummy. Ulcers showed up in her tongue and the skin on her neck glowed red with welts. Her skin started to slash open with tiny little cuts that hurt her all the more. She couldn't hear anything around her but she saw the trainers scrambling around for what she hoped was a paramedic. Then she blacked out.

She woke up in her room later that evening with Effie sat on one of the green chairs by her bed. "Oh my gosh you're awake!" Effie's onslaught of noise caused an instant headache that Lina opened her mouth to complain about it but she was shushed by Effie being even louder. "Don't talk! You have ulcers all over your tongue and cuts all over you. You should be healed up by day 3, at least we hope so. Nurses will be coming in every two hours to put the healing ointment on you and change your bandages, it's the best the Capitol has so cross your fingers and hope for the best." She stood silently next to the bed before talking again, "Actually don't, it'll hurt your hands! Well, I'll be back later to check up on you. Bye-bye dearie!" She blew Lina a kiss and slammed the door shut she was in a rush as usual. Lina waited till the familiar clicking of Lina's shoes faded away before getting up.

She was still in a lot of pain so it took her a while to make her way to the bathroom, she was desperate to use the toilet. While pulling down her pants she noticed that the bandages went all the way to the top of her thighs, almost like a stocking. Then while peeling away at some of the bandage on her arm she was taken aback by the huge amount of bright red cuts. The welts on her neck were still bright red and her face had made it out practically unscathed. She decided to go back to sleep and miss training not that they would let her go plus she didn't exactly want to be awake when a complete stranger would be taking off her clothes and rubbing her down in what was virtually oil. So she made her way back into the plush bed that was way too big for her and drifted back to sleep.

When she woke up and checked her wounds the next morning they were practically gone and she didn't need the bandages anymore. The Capitol ointment was very potent. The fact that her wounds were gone meant that she no longer had an excuse to not show up at training. She didn't know what they had done to her mouth but the ulcers were gone, her throat was still swollen though. She took a shower in cold water and put on the clothes that Effie had left out for her, a brown tunic, tight black trousers and a pair of slightly heeled ankle boots that she traded for the flat suede ones. She didn't care how short she was heels were not needed unless given to her by her stylist.

Haymitch came into her room looking slightly less sobered up than he had been for the past few days. "You didn't tell me you could throw knives." He was holding a cup of white spirits that he sipped from every few seconds, the bottle was in his other hand.

"I can't." Lina felt that it was a one time thing that would never happen again. She didn't know how she knew those things, it couldn't be the Gene because that never worked. So it was probably her past in the Capitol, the memories must've came back to her and worked their magic.

"Oh but you can. I heard about your little performance during training and you're a complete idiot." Lina glared up at him and tried to walk past. He blocked the doorway with his arm and kept talking, "You should've saved it for the Gamemakers, now either you find something that you can magically do again or you're that one kid that never learnt how to swim but fell right into the deep end."

"I'll probably climb some ropes or tie some knots." She pushed her way past him and walked on.

"That's not going to earn you a 12!" he shouted after her before laughing and heading off down the opposite hallway.

During training she stuck to the survival stations, the tall man with the red eyes stared at her from afar and even waved when she came in but she didn't answer. She didn't talk to anyone that day and people obviously whispered.

Then lunch rolled around and people were getting pulled out of lunch for their session with the Gamemakers. When she saw Julian walk off she knew she was next. She wasn't exactly sure what Julian could do and she didn't really care. He was annoying and liked to laugh at everything that wasn't funny. He wasn't going to be getting a 12 and neither was she. But she was going to be failing on purpose, of course she would loose sponsors but it would make the other tributes look down at her too. Hopefully she could make them believe that the knife throwing was just a fluke.

"Lina Blackwood, you're next." A Peacekeeper at the door called her name as Julian walked out.

"Tough crowd in there. Good luck Airhead." He walked out looking defeated, it was the first time anyone had seen him looking so depressed.

She walked in and took a look around, the room was filled with every weapon she could think of. Bows and arrows, spears, swords, knives and that was when she lost it. Her plan was to completely fail but her body thought otherwise and carried her towards the centre of the room. "Lina Blackwood, District 12." After stating her name and district she looked around more. The Gamemakers seemed tired, a few of them looked slightly irritated but most of them looked drunk. There was a dent in the wall behind them that Julian obviously didn't make, Katniss went before him so Lina wondered what she had done.

She was snapped out of the wondering and back into the inner battle she was having with herself. She wanted to go down to the knot tying station but her legs were walking her down towards the swords. She heard one of the Gamemakers request an assistant for her to fight with, most of them sat there and snickered. How was a tiny girl from District 12 supposed to know how to handle a sword? Lina tucked three knives underneath her shirt and grabbed a Russian Shashka sword. She felt the same electricity run up her spine and information on all the weapons zoomed into her head.

Her opponent was a large male, about as tall and muscley as the knife throwing trainer. She barely reached his shoulders, so her body instantly took about 10 steps away from him and unsheathed her sword. He smirked at her shrugged his shoulders and grabbed a Sabre off his side of the holster.

Lina's body moved her into fighting stance as he got into his, then the buzzer went off and he flew towards her. There was an intense bashing of blade against blade till he finally managed to stab hers out of her hand. Her feet took her as far away from him as she could get with him on her tail, then she started throwing the knives. She only had three, and her system knew she wasn't supposed to kill the boy, so just like she had done in training to the career tribute she pinned him to the ground by his trouser legs. She then tied up his hands with the knot tying rope they had near the sparring ground.

She silently walked over to him and punched him hard in the face, "Give up." She could see him about to spit the blood that had gathered in his mouth at her and punched him in the gut. "Surrender, give up, forfeit, they all mean the same thing. I'm not going to say it to you a thousand times in different ways before you finally understand it."

"That's not going to happen." He spoke as he thrashed against his restraints but to no avail, the knives were sunken in too deep. She delivered punch after till he was swollen and bruised. The Gamemakers still sat up in their balcony commenting on how they were lucky they weren't him.

She purposely didn't hit him hard enough to make him pass out, a part of her wanted to hear him say those words. Unfortunately for him, that part of her was quite large.

"I give up." The man gulped straight after the sentence, almost as if he was swallowing his pride.

The way he said it didn't suffice, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear you just then." He glared up at her as a form of rebellion that was quickly tamed by another punch.

"I give up." He was only slightly louder that time, she wanted to hear him scream the words. She felt the need to embarrass the stupid Capitol citizen. He was one of them and that made him the enemy.

"Again." He looked up at her with confused eyes before taking another punch to the jaw. "Say it...Again." The process was repeated over and over till she was satisfied and by the time she was, he was screaming at the top of his lungs. The Gamemakers didn't step in to help they laughed from up in their balcony which hurt his pride even more.

Lina pulled out the two knives and punched him one last time, that punch was hard enough to knock him out. "Thank you for your time." Lina took a slow walk out after being dismissed, the electricity was slowly creeping back down her spine and retreating to wherever the hell it came from. Then the feeling of panic set in. What was she going to do if she got a good number? She was hoping for a 7 at the maximum. Her minimum was quite literally a 0. Haymitch was standing outside waiting for her, looking slightly less sobered up than he had been the past few days.

"What did you end up doing?" he seemed sober enough to get to the point.

"...Ehh, nothing worth worrying about." With those words walked over to the elevator. Her steps were getting slower and slower with each second that drew by. It was getting closer and closer to the next day, closer and closer to her getting her cover completely blown. She pressed 12 and was on her floor in a few seconds. The prep team, Effie, Peeta and Julian were all sat at the table.

"Ugh, let me guess, you ruined your chances too. District 12 is doomed this Hunger Games." Effie was sat at the head of the table with the deepest frown set on her face. It accentuated every wrinkle she had leaving her looking almost like a pug in a wig.

"Uh, I guess you could say that." She sighed and took the seat opposite Effie's. "It's not like you could expect much from me anyway, I missed half of training." She had decided it was the perfect time for excuses, just being from District 12 was enough of an excuse. "I'm going to bed." Lina got up and walked off to her room. She wasn't tired in any way, shape or form but socialisation was not on her list of things to do, neither was dealing with Effie.

Sleep came to her eventually, but nightmares of what would happen in the arena woke her up. She wasn't being killed, it was her doing all the killing. She snapped when she saw herself stab Rue, a tiny girl that she had never really spoken to. Even though she hadn't done anything the guilt was still eating away at her. Sitting up in her bed was making her restless so she made her way up to the balcony.

Sitting on the balcony was the maximum she could do at 3am without looking suspicious so she did just that. That night as she watched the sunrise over the whole of the Capitol she felt nostalgic. She looked off far beyond the multicoloured marble of the crowded buildings in the main Capitol and stared far out towards the edges, where just a handful of large houses sat on green hills. She recognised President Snow's house on the spot. It was the last thing she saw before entering captivity and before leaving for District 12. One thing caught her eye though, farther down the road from there was a house covered in blue marble. A large W was imprinted in the area above the door, and it called to her. The air around her seemed to chill and her breath became visible. For a split second she thought of President Snow, but then her eyes lingered on the W.

"Winter," she spoke softly to herself then shook her head. "No, not Winter. It's Wynter," she snickered at the fact that it was still pronounced the same. Then another sentence randomly came to mind. "With a Y because it looks daintier with the Y." She didn't know whose words she was quoting, but she remembered a lot of them from her past. Random stupid little words of a socialite, then again, Lina was never very social. If she wasn't then who was? The question rang in her head till the sunrise stopped. Then she stared down at her ribbons, still tied to her wrists. White with a tiny blue TW stitched on the end of each one. Again with the W, but who was T Wynter?

**(A/N: Well my fellow Hunger Gamers, thank you for reading. I love you all BUT there still isn't one review on my poor story, so pretty pretty please review, I'll be happy with atleast one :3**

**Oh and my dearies, I have decided to give you all the VOTE! Dun dun dunnnnn. What would you like to see happen?**

**More romance**

**More death**

**More drama**

**More action**

**More of all the above**

**More other**

**Answer me in the review section or you can just send me a pm especially if you want something to happen that doesn't fit any of the aformentioned criteria!**

**Remember to revieww**

**Love**

**Anon3233)**

**)**


	5. Chapter 5

**(A/n: I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES. But I do own the idea for the Hunter Gene.)**

**Chapter 5**

Lina made her way back to her room at around 7am, she had missed last nights score announcement after dinner since she didn't go. So she would have to ask for her scores that morning at breakfast. She stepped lightly on the way to her room, she had a feeling Effie was after her for not going to dinner preparing to shout something about how she was ungrateful and rude.

She took a quick shower and put on a pair of tight khaki pants, a cream tunic and her brown boots. Her hair had curled itself as usual and her eyes seemed lighter than usual. She was in a good mood for the first time in a while. She could already hear Effie about to slam her door open shouting as usual.

"Up, up, up! Today is going to be a big, big..." She slammed open Lina's door before stopping midway in her sentence. "You're awake!"

"Yes Effie I am awake. Because today is going to be a big, big, big day! Just like every other day I've been here for." Lina skipped around her room mocking the way Effie moved as she went, she even put on her best Capitol accent. Effie glared at Lina before turning on her heel.

"If you have time to be witty you have time to make your way down to breakfast. Chop chop! Today is jam-packed!" Then she ran off happily to go disturb some more mornings, almost as if she was excited at the thought of causing people pain. It always surprised Lina how fast Effie could change moods. Lina guessed that there were litres of hormones just floating around in her body that caused her stupid high-pitched voice as well as the mood-swings.

Lina decided to see what was so fun about it and stomped off to Julian's room. She wasn't going to risk her life attempting to wake up a hungover Haymitch and Effie was already on her way to see Katniss and Peeta. "Up, up, up! Today is going to be a day just like all the rest!" She paused to laugh at her own joke before stepping in Julian's room. It was the same as her own just with teal accents. "Come on! Get up!" The lights were turned off and he was draped over the side of the bed with his blanket half falling off. He wasn't so much as batting an eyelash at all the noise she was making.

"So you've decided to come help me?" Effie was standing at the door with a wide Cheshire cat grin on her face. "He is the reason I get up so early every morning, he's the heaviest sleeper I've ever come across." Effie high-heeled her way over to the light switch and flickered it on and off. He didn't respond to that either. They pushed and prodded him for at least half an hour, before Effie left her composure behind, took off her heels and jumped up and down on his bed. Lina joined her and they finally managed to wake him up by sitting on his chest. She found it completely hilarious that it took a near death experience just to get him out of bed.

After that she left Effie to go to breakfast. Haymitch walked past her to his seat holding a cup of coffee muttering under his breath. He didn't seem to be very fond of Effie's awakenings. Lina wondered what time the woman woke up. She always showed up to their rooms at 7:15am on the dot looking completely made up, wig perfectly placed on her head and stupidly high heels on her feet. Lina couldn't imagine how much pain she put herself through with the heels and the makeup and the plucking and the corsets and the ungodly hours in the morning. How many hours of sleep did she even get?

She served herself a plate of rice and stew made of lamb chunks and dried plums. Julian dragged himself over to the table only to sit with his face flat against it. He had bags under his eyes and seemed stressed for the first time ever. It was probably her fault, she slammed her plate down against the table and laughed hen he flinched. Then she realised why Effie had so much fun with it. Peeta showed up with a friendly, "Good morning." as usual, and sooner or later Effie came strutting around the corner and sat down. It was the first time Lina had been on time to any meal.

"Today we're coaching you for your interviews!" Effie announced with a loud squeal right as she sat down. Julian groaned and Haymitch visibly flinched then held is head at the sound.

Lina was entertained by the whole endeavour, she had never been hungover and didn't want to be. Haymitch's face the morning after drinking was enough to scare her away from liquor for life. The headaches looked horrid, his reaction to loud sounds was completely hilarious considering the fact that Effie was always around him, and she was a loud sound without trying. The nausea was probably the worst part of it all, Lina wouldn't forget the day on the train when he showed up late to dinner, stuck in that place half way in-between drunk and hungover. Then he threw up all over the floor. It was pure disgusting comedy gold.

Peeta was moving slowly around the serving plates, he didn't seem to want to make his way to the table. When he finally sat down he just stared at the table cloth while eating, he fidgeted with his knife and fork before finally speaking, "Um, speaking of coaching I wanted to ask if I could... be coached separately from Katniss." Lina could see exactly why he didn't want to sit down.

Effie instantly slammed her hand against the table and stood up to protest. Haymitch cringed at the sound and Lina internally laughed. Haymitch managed to beat Effie to the punch and spoke before her. "That's absolutely fine. Let the boy make his own decisions Effie." She sat down and slouched in her seat for a second before sitting up again. Lina could practically hear her scolding herself about how ladies didn't slouch.

Along with the constant prissiness Effie was also very proper. She was almost like a walking rule book for manners. Not only manners but posture and presentation. The kind of childhood Effie would've had was completely beyond Lina. Most of what she said could be unreasonable due to her controlling attitude but she could understand Effie's side of the argument. Katniss and Peeta were made to look like a dynamic duo. They had been together up till then and even wore matching outfits that Effie had picked out. Katniss walked around the corner and stacked her plate high with food. Effie's and Haymitch's shouts had been reduced to whispers and poor Peeta was attempting to defend himself against the wrath of Effie.

She sat down and ate for a bit before taking a swig of orange juice and looking up from her food. "So what's going on? You're coaching us on interviews today, right?"

Haymitch nodded. She swallowed another forkfull of rice and continued, "You don't have to wait for me, I can listen and eat at the same time."

"Well, our current game-plan has been changed." He seemed almost nonchalant as he paused to take another sip of coffee from her cup.

"How?" She drank some more orange juice and looked up at Haymitch.

"Peeta has asked to be coached separately." Katniss looked shocked, offended even, but to make matters worse Haymitch decided to shrug.

First shock flashed across her face, then anger, Effie sprung to action as soon as she saw the anger. "I told them it wasn't a good idea!"

Relief flashed across Katniss' face and she ignored Effie who stood there opening and closing her mouth at the thought of being ignored. Katniss took another casual sip of her orange juice and scraped her plate clean. "Good," she said. "So, what's the schedule?"

Everyone seemed taken aback at first but Haymitch continued speaking. "You'll each have 2 hours and a half with either Effie, Cinna, Caelus and I for presentation and content. You're with Effie." Katniss and Effie got up and walked off with Effie practically screaming in excitement.

"Julian, you're with Caelus for presentation. Peeta you're with Cinna for content and Lina you're with me. Hurry up." That year they had to use the stylists as extra trainers since they had two extra tributes.

Lina followed him down a few hallways till they stopped at a room that was set up like an office. He took a seat and gestured to the one across him. "So far all of District 12 seems to be doing better than most of the Careers, especially considering the perfect 12 you got last night."

Lina raised an eyebrow and sat quietly, she didn't want to talk about what had happened during the presentation. "For you, I was thinking clueless."

She raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed, "You're so clueless it almost becomes negative. So if Caesar asks you, "How did you manage that amazing perfect 12?" What would you say?" he stared at her expectantly before sighing again and rubbing his temples. He poured himself a glass of white spirits and said, "I don't know, I can barely do anything. It was probably just a fluke... That's what you say!"

She nodded and tried dissecting the line. Clueless was the one thing she was aiming to be labelled as in practice and failed. At least on her side of the spectrum she did. When she threw the knives then collapsed to the floor covered in cuts the first assumption was that she was a completely incompetent knife thrower and that she couldn't throw a knife without cutting herself. Even the thought of her being strong was thrown out of the window by the rest of the tributes. The only way to explain the 12 was exactly as she would say it was, just a fluke. Clueless was still up for grabs.

"Let's try some questions." He asked her everything from her strengths to which she answered, "Practically nothing," and her weaknesses to which she answered, "Virtually everything," then proceeded to laugh at herself. She had it down by the end of the last half hour.

"Well, good luck to you sweetheart. Just try and keep it as clueless as possible without reaching stupid, okay?" he barely gave her time to nod before kicking her out.

"Come along my little girl!" she was being wrenched along by Caelus to the room next door. "Today I shall teach you the ways of good presentation. Let's start with posture."

The posture lessons reminded her of her days back at President Snow's house. They were taught how to conduct themselves as children, so even when they were dying of hunger or practically sleeping on their feet they would know how to disguise it. She had never gotten out of the habit of having completely perfect posture. Caelus who was worse than any perfectionist she had ever met always found something to nitpick at.

"Okay, your posture is fine, put these on and change into the dress behind the screen." He threw her a pair of the highest heels she had ever seen, they were a very light shade of powder pink and the dress itself was strapless, flowy and cream.

"Lovely now starting from the mirror over there," He pointed to a mirror across her. "Walk towards me how you think you should." She took about two steps before he exploded in her face, "Not like that! It's from heel to toe. Keep your stomach muscles clenched and relax your legs, it looks too stiff!" she took another two steps before he exploded in her face again, "Wrong, wrong, wrong! Now you're too relaxed!" They repeated the walk then shout process till she could finally do it right.

"I've done as much as I could do in 2 and a half hours. Now you are perfect. I dismiss you!" There were melodramatic tears brimming in his eyes as she left the room for dinner. "Oh, and don't take off the shoes or the dress. Training continues outside of the classroom my dear!" she sighed and walked to the dining room.

"Aren't you looking pretty?" she could tell it was Julian the instant he opened his mouth.

"Julian, I've been walking around with what seem to be knives poked into my feet for nearly 3 hours. Don't push me. I will harm you." He squealed in fake terror and ran over to his seat.

"Ugh, I'm going to have dinner in my room." Everyone else was sitting at the dinner table except Katniss.

Instead of calling room service Lina flopped onto her bed and fell asleep in her clothes.

"Hello my dear, good morning, wake up! We need your eyes to be wide, bright and open for today!" Caelus was skipping around her rooms opening all the modern shutters and slamming open the windows. The rest of the prep team stood at the door. Even though Caelus was on the thin side he still managed to pick her up off the bed and drop her into the bath tub. Then for his added entertainment he slammed his fist down on the panel of buttons and ran out.

Lina was left startled and freshly awoken under water jets, soaps and all sorts of strange body oils and scrubs. Lina slowly pulled herself out of the bath tub and peeled off her shoes and her dress. She stepped out of the bathroom then threw them both on the floor at Caelus' feet. They landed making a loud wet squelch noise and splashing water onto the floor."Hey Caelus. Why don't you give me a hug?" She stretched out her wet soap covered arms at him and he screamed and ran away.

"Grab her before she ruins my clothes!" The rest of the stylists picked her up and threw her back into the bathroom. She took that as permission to take an extra long shower. By the time she finished Caelus was bashing on the door screaming about how he was purposely going to burn her with hair straighteners.

As soon as she came out they dragged her over to the styling room and Defra blow-dried her hair, putting tiny strands of silver into it as she went. She straightened it then shook it till it was "messily tame" after that she made her stand in front of a fan till her hair looked "windswept".

The makeup was a long process that Kin had been assigned to while Runia did her nails. She painted all 20 of them metallic silver that made them look like metal. Kin painted silver swirls all over her body that were only visible in a specific light. He enhanced her eyes with dark grey and black eye shadow and eyeliner then sat there for a good 10 minutes applying and re-applying mascara. He brushed some barely noticeable pink powder onto her checks and put clear lip gloss on her lips. He braided two silver garters and put one on her arm and the other on her thigh. He walked off into the next room with a triumphant scream of, "My work is done!"

Caelus walked in and circled her while holding a flashlight, occasionally turning it on and pointing it in her direction to get a better look at the silver swirls then nodding in approval. "Time for the dress!" He pushed her behind the dressing screen and handed her what seemed to be a mass of grey and black chiffon. "Change!" he shouted before running back to his plush red sofa and laying down.

It was longer in the front and shorter in the back with what seemed to be at least 5 different layers of gray and black chiffon all in different shades. The top part was strapless black bodice covered in grey chiffon with a tiny gray braided belt that was long enough to touch the longest part of the dress which trailed along on the floor when she was standing still. The bodice cinched in her waist and gave the impression that her breasts were much larger than they really were. She was about to complain when Caelus shouted, "There's nothing wrong with having a male fanbase! That means more sponsors!"

She laughed and walked out from behind the screen. The longer part of the dress floated and disappeared slightly the edges almost like smoke. Then she remembered her first day with the stylists. Caelus shoved a pair of black heels into her hands and told her to practice walking. She soon found that the dress also let out tiny wisps and puffs of smoke making her look almost like she had previously been on fire.

"Come here, I'm only going to show this to you once. When you're about to sit down pull the back of the skirt sideways so that you're not sitting on it. That way you show some leg and everyone gets to see my fabulous garter." Lina tried it a few times before Caelus turned back around and said, "That's perfect! Now if you do happen to sit on the back of the skirt the smoke mechanism will break and set fire. So you don't really have much of an option." He grabbed her hands and walked over to the elevator.

"What did Haymitch pick for you?" He seemed genuinely concerned, probably because Lina was wearing his dress.

"Clueless." Caelus broke into a random fit of tear jerking laughter.

"You'll be absolutely fine," he said before chuckling at her. She punched him lightly on the arm as they both got into the elevator and pressed 0.

Soon she was downstairs watching the rest of the tributes be lined up, District 12 was last so she had time to be nervous later.

All 48 tributes were hauled up into one room and to make the interviews go by faster two people were going up on stage at a time. Lina was stuck with Julian and as much as she hated him they did look good together. He was in a dark grey suit with a black dress shirt and no tie. The tributes went up in their matching pairs and somehow Lina managed to not pay attention during all 44 of them.

She was snapped out of her daze by Julian who let out a loud, "Wow." Peeta had just confessed to Katniss while she was onstage and she was taking it pretty well. The tomato red blush on her face was hard to miss but other than that she didn't really seem too embarrassed, she was probably more angry than anything. As soon as they got of stage her rage shone through and she shoved Peeta into a flower filled urn. Lina didn't get to see much else since she got pushed onstage by a waiting peacekeeper.

Just like what had happened with the paparazzi an instant shy smile and slight blush made their way to her face. She shook Caesar's hand and Julian followed. They had reached their seats and she was about to sit down when she saw Caelus gesturing like a mad man in the audience. She simply pulled her skirt sideways and sat down.

"So, you're the amazing Lina Blackwood. Ms Perfect 12, tell us, how did you do it?" The crowd cheered in response and Lina smiled.

She fidgeted shyly in her seat before saying, "I don't know, I can barely do anything. It was probably just a fluke." She saw Haymitch smiling in the audience out of the corner of her eye.

Caesar laughed disbelievingly and said, "Impossible, it's the first 12 we've seen in years. Can't you let us in on the secret?" the crowd screamed in agreement and Lina laughed.

She paused for a second and put her finger on her chin as if she was in deep thought. Caesar leaned forward in his seat as if anticipating something amazing, the crowd done the same. "But..." Lina started her sentence and didn't finish.

Caesar leaned off his seat even more, "But..." he echoed.

"I thought I wasn't allowed to tell you about that." Caesar practically fell off his seat at the ditzy answer she had given him. It had taken her all that time just to think of that?

Haymitch was choking on laughter in the audience and Caesar continued with the questions. "So you volunteered for Katniss' sister, would you mind telling us why?"

She turned to look at Haymitch for a split second he mouthed "_Tell them about yourself!_" at her then she said, "Well, back in District 12 I live in the children's orphanage and when I saw Prim go up I felt guilty. She's only 12, she reminded me of the kids that I took care of back home." The crowd gave a deep "aww" at her response. "I couldn't not volunteer, it was sort of an automatic response. Plus she gave me goat's milk to feed my babies." Lina was looking down at her hands with a nostalgic smile on her face.

"Hold on a second, you have children?!" Caesar gasped at her and she laughed in return.

"No, no ,no. That's just what I call the children back home, they never had parents and I'm the oldest one there. It's almost as if they were my children. Plus I'm only 17."

He nodded and smiled approvingly before shouting, "If you give me permission, may I say that you look absolutely breathtaking tonight?" Lina shifted in her seat again and nodded timidly. "Was Cinna also your stylist?"

"No, mine was Caelus. The man in the audience..." She sat back in her seat as if satisfied with her answer.

"...Um, Lina? There are plenty of men in the audience." The audience laughed as Lina turned bright red.

"He's the one next to Cinna." Lina waved at him and the audience gave him a loud round of applause. "I have to thank him for a lot of stuff. Especially being able to walk in these shoes, I don't know how you Capitol women do it." The females in the audience cheered.

Caesar laughed and cheered with them,"Time for the serious questions," he straightened out his mouth and furrowed his blue eyebrows together. "Do you have a strategy for this years' Games?" Lina put her finger to her chin again and Caesar turned to the audience and smirked, "Please enlighten us with your logic Ms Blackwood."

She sighed deeply and said, "Hold on, I'm thinking tactically." She sounded out each letter of the word "tactically" as if she was unfamiliar with it, then nodded in approval when she thought it was right. "I'm going to.."

Caesar sat on the edge of his seat once again and the crowd mimicked his actions, "You're going to...?"

"...Run." Caesar nearly fell of his seat at that answer and Haymitch laughed in the audience.

"I need to stop falling for your thinking-face." Caesar rubbed the bridge of his nose as if stressed and sat back up in his seat. He took a deep breath and then smiled, "Okay so Lina, I've asked everyone the same question so far. Do you have a special someone?" Lina opened her mouth to speak and he interrupted her, "Please don't tell me it's him." He pointed at Julian, "My heart can't handle anymore tragedy." He leaned sideways and gripped his heart with his hands as if he were in actual pain.

Lina laughed again, she wasn't planning on making any sponsors in the interview, it was all going to happen in the arena. So she wasn't going to make try too hard to make an impression. She was personally tired of trying so damn hard. "I don't know if I should tell you or not. You're a very chatty man Caesar." The audience laughed and so did Caesar. "This time I'll keep my mouth shut, I swear!" he did a lock and key motion to his mouth and stared expectantly at Lina.

She sighed deeply and said, "No there's no one, I just wanted to make you promise." Then she all out laughed at him.

"Well ladies and gentlemen, our times with Lina is up." He gave her a tight hug, "You've been an absolute breath of fresh air, good luck to you Ms Lina Blackwood." She hugged him back and gave him small thanks before walking off stage.

Caelus was already back stage waiting for her. "You did great! You did my dress justice." He hugged her and pulled her over to the elevator again. She was in a daze of sorts. It was her last day before death was being practically handed to her on a silver platter. Caelus was babbling on and on about how, "The dress looked so good!" and how, "You were all legs, the tattoos looked amazing and the lighting was just perfect!" He did have the right to be proud of his work but at that moment Lina just wasn't listening.

"You look so good!"Effie came running towards Lina at top speed, Lina as a form retaliation side stepped away from Effie then ran to the other side of the room. "You can even run in the heels," Effie gasped and stood still wiping away fake melancholy tears, "I've done all I could do for you as a teacher. Good luck." Effie was talking to herself while fanning away her tears.

Everyone was in the room but Peeta, Lina had caught a glimpse of him walking away with Portia to first aid. _Probably to wrap up his cuts. _They all sat down to eat the cream and rose-petal soup without them, and Lina's thoughts were confirmed when Peeta walked back into the room with his hands bandaged. Katniss look down at her soup with rueful eyes.

"Is everyone ready to watch the replay?" Cinna was sitting patiently in his seat, his bowl was drained and his arms were crossed.

Effie squealed in response and everyone else let out a slight groan as an answer, they were all as drained as Cinna's bowl.

An Avox handed Cinna a remote and he pressed the bright red button on it while aiming at the ceiling. A glass box lowered itself out of the ceiling and a bright light flashed out of it onto the plain wall across them. Katniss' replay started instantaneously.

She openly cringed during the whole tape and Lina could understand why. She seemed substantially simple minded, like there was nothing else to her except a frilly girl twirling in a dress. The only things that made her slightly memorable were Cinna's dress and Peeta's confession, but the fact that it took her lighting up in flames and an onstage confession to make anyone remember who she was, was a blow to her pride. Peeta was as charming as ever, falling straight into his character of the boy in love. All in all they wouldn't be forgotten as a couple.

Lina almost didn't recognise the girl who walked onstage with a shy blush on her face, but it was her. Caelus was right about the lighting, a single spotlight had been circling the crowd during the whole show, and when it came close to the stage her tattoos would seemingly light up and shimmer. He was right about her legs looking extra long too, she was very short so the heels did help a lot. As soon as she sat down it didn't really matter what came out of her mouth since she looked so gorgeous. She did manage to say something worth listening to though so she wasn't completely out of the rankings for sponsors.

Julian was his usual stupidly sarcastic self and the audience ate it up. Lina couldn't deny that he was attractive and neither could the Capitol females. His looks were bound to earn him some sponsors.

The screen dimmed and the anthem played. The room went silent as they realised that it maybe the last time they would all see each other as the next day they would be awoken at dawn and sent on a ride to death. There was no telling how long the ride would be and that made it more nerve-racking.

A not-so-perky Effie stood up and said goodbye to each of them with tears in her eyes the whole time. Cinna, Caelus, Portia and Runia would be travelling with them from the very moment they left. Effie and Haymitch would have to say their last goodbyes then. Effie forced them all into a group hug and wished them all well. Thanked them for being the best tributes she had ever sponsored and then because she was Effie and was forced by law to say something mean she added, "I wouldn't be at all surprised if I finally get promoted to a decent district next year!" She then kissed them each on the cheek despite their protests and ran out, bawling as she went.

Haymitch approached them with crossed arms and looked them all over, lingering slightly on Katniss and Peeta. He seemed to have a lot more hope in them then he did with Julian and Lina. "Any final words of advice?" Peeta being Peeta had to break the tense silence.

"When the gong sounds get the hell out of there. Don't stay for the bloodbath at the cornucopia. Just clear out, put as much distance as you can between yourselves and the others, and find a source of water," he says. "Got it?"

They all nodded and Katniss spoke, "After that?"

"Stay alive." One would think that the piece of blatantly obvious advice wouldn't help anyone, but it ignited a sense of anger in Lina. Not at the Capitol or anyone else, but at herself for volunteering and leaving her babies alone. Now she had to win, to be able to get back to them so they wouldn't starve.

They all bid each other their last goodnights and goodbyes and retreated to their rooms. Lina spent that night asleep under the shower head, for a few hours she had her last taste of nirvana, she couldn't deny that her few days at the Capitol had been heaven compared to her life back at the Seam, but nothing would be better than seeing all her babies again.

The next morning an all-but-happy Caelus woke Lina up from her spot in the shower. He waited outside the bathroom door till she finished then handed her a loose grey wooly jumper-dress, some black thigh high socks and a pair of black boots.

He hugged her then pulled her over to the roof, he never seemed to get out of the habit of pushing her whenever they needed to go somewhere. When they arrived at the roof a hovercraft appeared out of nowhere, just like it did during the Games when a dead tribute was being collected. Lina was pulled up onto the hovercraft then a sterile looking man in a white lab coat walked over to her. His skin was tinged a light grey and he wore glasses. His distinct similarity to the mutt back at President Snow's house froze her to the bone.

The light bouncing off his glasses made them appear white and his eyes weren't visible. He pushed them down to the tip of his nose and smirked at her, "Hello Ms Blackwood, I'm going to be administering your tracker today, if you hold still it will hurt less." He then stabbed the needle into her arm without warning, just like he had done before. Lina only got a two second look at the syringe itself, but she was absolutely sure that it didn't contain just the tiny silver tracker. There was a black metallic looking substance in the syringe as well, it had no particular substance and moved in a way that seemed to defy gravity. Lina would've ran and screamed but she was still attached to the ladder, the Capitol had strange technology that kept her there.

She felt the sharp jab in her arm and almost cried. She bit the insides of her cheeks till they bled trying not to scream. The familiar feeling of oil in water flowed through her veins and left her feeling squeamish. The man sped out of the room and then she was released from the ladder. The injection seemed to take away her ability to hold up her own weight, as she fell to the floor without even trying to stand up.

Caelus was brought up in the ladder and instantly helped her up, "Not many people like the needles, I know how you feel." He said and then an Avox boy came directed them over to a room where breakfast had been laid out.

Caelus helped her sit down then pushed a bowl of hot grain and a cup of orange juice in her direction. He sat down across her and put his head in his hands. "You better come back with no scars. I don't work with scars. Plus the dress I have planned out for the viewing ceremony is absolutely fabulous." He was looking at her seriously for the first time.

Lina snapped out of her nauseated daze and looked straight back at him, "I'm not sure if I'll come back in general." Any hope she had conjured up the night before had vanished at the sight of the mutt.

Caelus ignored her and kept talking, "Then again everything I make is fabulous."

Lina sighed, "Caelus I suggest you give up on making the dress."

He ignored her again, "It's feathered, I have a whole new image planned out for when you get back."

At that point Lina was frustrated, she slammed a hand down on the table and stood up, "I'm not coming back Caelus! You need to understand that!"

He slammed a hand down on the table and stood up as well, "You're coming back whether you like it or not! I'm not designing for anyone but you!" After that they just ended up shouting at each other till an Avox came in and they took that as a sign to be quiet.

"Hurry up and eat." Caelus walked around the table and stood next to her.

Lina was seated at the table stubbornly eating her grain and Caelus was standing behind her braiding her hair. The windows blacked out meaning they had nearly arrived, "I'll try." Lina had put down her bowl of grain and was now looking at Caelus.

"What?" He smoothed out a piece of her hair before she yanked it out of his hands.

"I said I'll try and win, just for that dress, so it better be amazing." She was frowning obviously at him.

Tears brimmed in his eyes and he hugged her so hard she thought her spine would snap. His face was buried into the shoulder of the jumper and his voice came out muffled when he said, "Sweetheart, everything I make is amazing." She laughed and hugged him back, things were already getting so emotional and it wasn't even time for her to leave.

The hovercraft landed and they both headed back to the ladder, that time it lowered them straight into the catacombs under the arena.

Lina showered again and cleaned her teeth, she was feeling surprisingly calm but she knew the panic would set in at the wrong time. Caelus tied her hair up in a high ponytail with extra hairbands, he was worried that the first one would break. Then the package of clothing arrived, it was the same for every tribute. Caelus sat on one of the sofas that was provided in the room and waved Lina away. There was a changing screen just like the one back in the Training Centre. "Go change!" Lina smiled and moved behind the screen. He had always been like that.

She put on the simple tawny pants, light green blouse, sturdy brown belt, and a thin, hooded black jacket that fell to her thighs. She stepped out and Caelus sighed again, "If I had a say in what you were wearing, this top would be much more lowcut." She glared at him and he smiled, "There's nothing wrong with having a male fanbase." he said.

He handed her a pair of skin tight socks and a pair of leather boots with a thin flexible sole. She felt comfortable instantaneously. All she needed was a pair of boots to be in her comfort zone. While she put on the boots he informed her about the properties of the jacket and when she was done he hugged her again. "You're allowed to bring a token to the arena so I got you this." He pulled a necklace out of his pocket. It was three pronged and at the end of each prong it swirled. Tied to the chain were her two ribbons with the tiny TW sowed onto the edge.

He put it on her and said, "It's a Triskel. The three prongs represent the Overworld, the Middleworld and the Underworld. The necklace itself represents the balancing of the opposites to form something that empowers everything else."

It meant more to her than he thought, Lina was aware that the Gene had been awakened inside her and she had to find a happy-medium between herself and the Gene. Right before going up Caelus handed Lina a glass of water, over that water she thought about her childhood. She remembered her parents, just not too clearly. She didn't remember what they looked like but she knew their antics and what they acted like. She didn't remember much but she did know that she was once a Capitol citizen. She only remembered her life up until she was about 5 which was her last year with Snow other than that everything was a complete blur. Caelus hugged her till it was time for launch and he was in tears the entire time, it felt more like she was comforting him.

An unpleasant female voice announced that it was time for launch. Caelus' tears abruptly stopped as he stood up and walked her over to the launch pad. He kissed her square on the lips and laughed at her expression, "You looked so serious, it doesn't suit you. Plus I don't work with frown lines." He squeezed her one last time and stepped away as the glass cylinder lowered around her. He blew her a kiss and waved her goodbye and she did the same.

The cylinder began rising and took its sweet time. Lina didn't want to move around too much since she was aware that the metal plate under her feet contained explosives. The smell of pine trees and fresh grass assaulted her senses and the bright sunlight hurt her eyes. Then she heard the legendary announcer, Claudius Templesmith, as his voice boomed all around her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin!"

Lina took in her surroundings. They were in a giant circle with all 48 tributes standing on their plates. The giant cornucopia sat in the middle of the circle. The curved tail ran at least twenty feet high and the width of the mouth could barely be seen due to the huge amount of things spilling out. Everything in the centre was worth something, tents, weapons, medicine, but as the objects got closer to the tributes they lost their worth. Things like squares of plastic and bread loaves sat in front of her. Behind her and to her left there was a giant spread of green trees, in front of her there was a giant clearing and to her right there was a lake.

Running to the clearing would almost be the same as running straight into the desert, there was no defence from anything. Not the sun, or the other tributes they would be constantly vulnerable. She decided that she would head for the forest. The grass was extra green meaning it was close to some sort of water source... well that or the Gamemakers purposely made it green but she was willing to take the risk.

A plain black backpack was about 80 feet away from her. Despite being instructed not to go in for the kill at the cornucopia she had a feeling that the backpack would make life a lot easier for her. It was really far in so there had to be something valuable inside it.

The gong sounded and Lina didn't even have to think. The oil and water feeling came back and her legs took her to the backpack faster than she had ever moved in her life. She looked around and saw everyone spring into action, Katniss stepped around confused for a while before running and grabbing a loaf of bread and some plastic. Then she ran straight into a grapple with a boy from District 9 over a backpack who died soon after by the hands of a girl from District 2 who was running around wrecking havoc with half a dozen knives in hand.

Lina dodged a hit from the boy from District 4, the one that pursued her during knife training. "You're my kill. Remember that 12!" Lina dodged another hit and sprinted off into the forest behind them. He didn't pursue her, he would probably come after her with the Careers to make it an easier kill.

Lina sprinted deep into the forest, not stopping for a second to look the behind her. The Capitol had done an amazing job manufacturing the arena, it seemed almost real. When Lina finally felt that the rest of the tributes were far enough behind her she stopped sprinting and slowed to a jog. She diverted between jogging and walking till the coverage made by the trees grew thicker. She could hear smaller animals running away as her footsteps grew slightly heavier. That was a good sign. It sounded like there were a lot of them and they had to be drinking from somewhere. Finding that "somewhere" was one of her issues along with the tribute from District 4 who was on her tail.

She didn't bother wasting her breath attempting to climb a tree so she settled for hiding behind one to check her backpack. Her hands were trembling and her breath hitched in her throat as the water and oil feeling faded from her blood again. There was an annoying cold feeling on the back of her neck that told her it wasn't the full extent of what it could do. It was holding out for when she would need it much later. Even the Gene was thinking strategically, showing all her strength at the cornucopia wouldn't be a smart thing to do, then the tributes would group and come after her. Playing dumb was all she could do till later on.

When her hands finally stopped shaking she opened the backpack, it was average in size and was plain black. It was probably more valuable than Katniss' one considering the fact that hers was bright orange and would need camouflaging.

Inside the backpack was a tiny bottle of iodine and an empty bottle of water. Next to it sat a thin metal straw, it didn't look like it was for drinking since at both edges the rims had slight spikes on them that looked like they could cut her. The rest of the stuff in the bag was foreign to her so she closed it and decided to figure it all out later.

It was late afternoon as the canons went off, the fighting at the cornucopia finally must have stopped. They didn't bother using the canons till all the fighting was over, it was way too hard to keep up with the fatalities. Lina stepped along to each of the shots, she took 25 steps in total. 25 steps meaning there were only 23 tributes left. That was less than half. She guessed that it was mostly the tributes between District 5 and 10. They had all ran in to the cornucopia which was an unwise decision considering most of them were easy targets.

She sped up the pace of her walk and jumped down when she came to a slope, she had covered a lot of ground for the time she had been in the arena. Lina wondered about the rest of the tributes from 12. Katniss had survived, she saw her run off into the forest while she was in an argument with the boy from District 4. _What was his name?_ ... _Titanius! That was it._ She didn't manage to get a look at Peeta or Julian. Julian was probably dead and if he wasn't he would have been quite soon. She saw him running towards the clearing. No one really knew what he could do but Lina was certain that it was a complete nothing. He may have been a complete dark horse like she was but other than that there was absolutely no chance of him winning. As mean as she sounded she was only telling the truth. Peeta was quite smart and probably didn't head straight into the cornucopia, there was a chance that he was off in some other part of the forest trying to cover some ground just as she was. That wouldn't keep him alive for very long though, even with the training that they had received at the Capitol Peeta's survival skills weren't up to par with Katniss'. Neither were hers but she was definitely better off than Peeta.

What was important was finding water as soon as possible, even if she did survive the Careers dying of dehydration would ruin that. Making Caelus and her babies proud were the only two things she wanted to do. As illogical as it sounded she didn't want to win, she wasn't like the Careers who only wanted to win for glory. She wanted to survive, for the important people in her life.

Survival was a term that she was very well acquainted with. It was the word she heard the most back at Presidents Snow's house. Everyday when the mutts' lesson would start the first thing they would say was, "Survival is key, if you aren't alive there is nothing left for you or of you. No one will know you or remember you. This is why survival is important." When she was with them Lina lived her whole life in fear of being forgotten, and in some senses they were right. All of the other test subjects died off and were forgotten, she survived but was yet to do anything memorable. Living in District 12 didn't exactly offer that opportunity to her very often.

Survival wasn't the only part of being remembered. That was the one thing they forgot, no one would remember you if you were forgettable. Lina had a feeling, that after that years' Hunger Games no one would forget the name Lina Blackwood ever again.

**(A/n: Thank you for being so lovely and reading ****till this point. Please follow, favorite and review :3**

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**Anon3233)**


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